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Activity and strategy

Modifying a Classroom Book Used for Guided Reading in an Inclusive Setting

Tips to make regular classroom books accessible to children who are blind or deafblind, with braille and tactile symbols

I have a son named Liam who is in first grade in a mainstream classroom.  His absolute favorite thing to do is read! Liam happens to be deafblind and is a braille reader.   He especially loves newly modified books!   My son’s team (myself included) all do our part in adapting and modifying books for Liam and we really try to make books that are motivating for him, appropriate and accessible.  

Materials

  • Clown by Jill Eggleton
  • shirt
  • clown nose (I was able to get a bag of them on amazon.com for around 3 dollars!)
  • hat
  • chipboard
  • puffy paint
  • braille labels

Procedure

Here is the latest book that I made accessible for him.  This is a book about a clown that he will be using in his guided reading group at school.  This clown needs to go shopping and he made a shopping list.  Here is what I did to modify this book for my Liam:

  • Added braille to his book
  • Included a bag with “real-life” objects to match the clown’s shopping list
Shopping list with real objects
Shopping list with real objects
  • Created a tactile version of the clown’s shopping list that included pieces of the real life objects from the bag
Braille shopping list with tactile objects
Shopping list with partial objects and braille
  • There was a picture of a clown with labels at the end of the book.  I created a tactile version of that on a separate piece of chipboard.  (The lines attached to the labels were drawn with puffy paint)
Clown labels with braille and tactile symbols
Clown labels with braille and tactile symbols
Collage of making books accessible to children who are blind
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