UEB Curriculum for Braille Students

Catherine Summ and Suzanne Cappiello, who both work as Education Consultants for the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DORS-BESB) in CT, have created this curriculum.

We wrote these lesson plans because the United States will officially adopt the Unified English Braille (UEB) in January 2016. This change will impact classroom curriculum, leisure reading, textbooks, standardized tests and other forms of literature on a national level. We created these lesson plans in order to provide a curriculum for students and professionals already proficient in the English Braille American Edition (EBAE) code. Our goal was to create lessons that focused on the UEB but included exercises related to literacy and areas of the expanded core curriculum. These lessons may be used with individuals or in a group setting and we designed them so that they could be adapted to meet the needs of each student. We hope you enjoy using them.

UEB Lesson 1: Eliminated EBAE Part Word Contractions No Longer Used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify the five part-word EBAE (English Braille American Edition) contractions that are not used in UEB (Unified English Braille):

ble ation ally dd com

UEB Lesson 2: Eliminated EBAE Part Word Contractions No longer Used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify the four part-word EBAE (English Braille American Edition) contractions below that are not used in UEB (Unified English Braille).

to into by o’clock

UEB Lesson 3: New Spacing in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to use spacing between words in UEB (Unified English Braille) that were previously joined together in EBAE (English Braille American Edition) :

and for of the with a

UEB Lesson 4: Typeform Indicators Used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify typeform indicators used in UEB: Italics, Underline, Bold.

UEB Lesson 5: Punctuation Used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify punctuation used in the UEB code.

UEB Lesson 6: Miscellaneous Symbols

student in striped shirt high-fiving teacher

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify common miscellaneous symbols in UEB. (These are symbols commonly found in general, academic, and technical reading materials.)

UEB Lesson 7: Period, Decimal and Dot Used in UEB

student in striped shirt reading braille

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify the dot combination for the period, decimal and dot that is now used in the UEB code.

UEB Lesson 8: Capitalization Used in UEB

student in blue shirt using braille writer

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify capitalization indicators that are now used in the UEB code.

UEB Lesson 9: Grade 1 Symbol Indicator used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify the grade 1 symbol indicator that is now used in the UEB code.

UEB Lesson 10: Computer Notation used in UEB

The goal of this lesson is that the student will be able to identify computer notation that is now used in the UEB code.

Please let us know if you have any UEB lessons you would like to share with others!

Comments

Thank you. I sooo appreciate

Posted by RoxanneR

Is the Unified English

Posted by Kamie Fortier

Hi Kamie,

Posted by Charlotte Cushman

UEB lessons

Posted by joanie Reisfeld

New UEB Lessons

Lessons in UEB

Sharing lesson ideas for UEB

Hoping to share soon

Lessons on UEB

Posted by Joanie Reisfeld

Great ideas for UEB!

UEB Transition phrases

Posted by Anna C. Gayle

Tips to remember changes in UEB

Thanks

Posted by Richard DeFilippis

Transition to UEB

UEB Curriculum for Braille Students - Question

Posted by Cricket Cady

Key to braille assignments

KEYS

UEB curriculum for Brl students

Posted by Anna Gayle

Anna Gayle commented on April 26, 2017

I use the Ashcroft's Programmed Instruction for Braille text published by Scalars Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9960353-0-9. I also use THE ABCs of BRAILLE put out by Braille Authority of America.

Cricket Cady commented on April 25, 2017

Ok, I see. Thank you!

Charlotte Cushman commented on April 25, 2017

Hi Cricket,

There is no specific key to the assignments. Many of them have dxb files attached, so you can see the braille word lists, etc.

Do you have a KEY to the braille 'assignments'?

Charlotte Cushman commented on September 21, 2016

We're glad they're helpful, Richard! Let us know if you have any other ideas to share here.

Richard DeFilippis commented on September 20, 2016

Thank you for these great lessons. I am going to use them as part of the transition plan for my student.

Charlotte Cushman commented on August 14, 2016

These are great ideas, Anna! Thanks for sharing your suggestions.

Anna C. Gayle commented on August 14, 2016

I like to use the phrases, "There is no PDA in UEB," to explain that the strong contractions: /and, the, of, for, with/ and the /to/ and /by/ do not hug anymore. (PDA is public display of affection) I also call the omitted contractions: /dd, com, o'clock, -ation, -ally, ble, by, to, in(to)/ as the 'dead contractions'. When the kids are learning these, we create tactile tombstones and braille the contractions on labels to put on the tombstones. They keep them nearby to remind themselves these are not used. When teaching that the double d is 'dead', I make sure I say the 'double d' so the kids won't think the 'low d' is no longer used. Then when teaching about the new rule to bridge contractions, I begin humming "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to remind them /er/ can be used in 'erase' as one example.

Charlotte@Perkins commented on January 5, 2016

Thanks for sharing these ideas, Joanie! The UEB rules manual can be overwhelming, so it's wonderful to have these ways to break it down for both older students and younger ones. We'd love to see some samples of what your students write!

Joanie Reisfeld commented on January 4, 2016

I recently download the UEB rules manual that has over 300 pages! I would just probably pick a few rules and then have the student generate a story or sentence. For younger kids, I sometimes do a Progressive Story. They start and pick a title and braille the first sentence of the story, then I generate the second sentence and they would continue to braille it and so on. It is a lot of fun and brings smiles along with learning! Happy New Year all!

Charlotte@Perkins commented on January 2, 2016

We agree that it would be great to have more lesson ideas centered on the rules of UEB, including items providing practice in subject areas. We hope you'll post your lesson ideas here or email us to share them!

RoxanneR commented on December 16, 2015

Thank you. I am looking forward to the new curriculum. Hopefully soon I will be able to share I am becoming more comfortable with using UEB now.

joanie Reisfeld commented on December 15, 2015

I am just letting my student write her own meaningful things in UEB for practice. It could be a letter to someone, a story etc...

It would be nice to see more lessons centered around some of the rules in UEB. To me, the practice part is important. Possibly adding more practice to what you already have. Also, maybe have practice centered about middle school subjects... like Eng, Social Studies, Science etc...

Charlotte@Perkins commented on December 15, 2015

We're so glad to know that you're using these lessons and that you find them to be helpful! We are going to be adding Duxbury files soon (with the answer key!) and we hope that those will be useful to people. Do you have any lessons you have created that you would like to share? We welcome new voices from the community!

I am using these wonderful lessons. Will there be more added? Joanie

Paths to Literacy

for students who are blind or visually impaired

UEB Curriculum for Braille Students

UEB Lesson 1: Eliminated EBAE Part Word Contractions No Longer Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 2: Eliminated EBAE Part Word Contractions No longer Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 3: New Spacing in UEB

UEB Lesson 4: Typeform Indicators Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 5: Punctuation Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 6: Miscellaneous Symbols

UEB Lesson 7: Period, Decimal and Dot Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 8: Capitalization Used in UEB

UEB Lesson 9: Grade 1 Symbol Indicator used in UEB

UEB Lesson 10: Computer Notation used in UEB

Comments

Thank you. I sooo appreciate

Is the Unified English

Hi Kamie,

UEB lessons

New UEB Lessons

Lessons in UEB

Sharing lesson ideas for UEB

Hoping to share soon

Lessons on UEB

Great ideas for UEB!

UEB Transition phrases

Tips to remember changes in UEB

Thanks

Transition to UEB

UEB Curriculum for Braille Students - Question

Key to braille assignments

KEYS

UEB curriculum for Brl students

Previous comments for UEB Curriculum for Braille Students

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Sign up for Paths to Literacy Newsletter

Share your ideas!

Comments

Thank you. I sooo appreciate

Is the Unified English

Hi Kamie,

UEB lessons

New UEB Lessons

Lessons in UEB

Sharing lesson ideas for UEB

Hoping to share soon

Lessons on UEB

Great ideas for UEB!

UEB Transition phrases

Tips to remember changes in UEB

Thanks

Transition to UEB

UEB Curriculum for Braille Students - Question

Key to braille assignments

KEYS

UEB curriculum for Brl students

Previous comments for UEB Curriculum for Braille Students

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