Braille Across the Curriculum

Braille is a reading and writing code for blind and visually impaired people which is accessed through touch. It is based on six dots in a cell and with different arrangements of raised dots within each cell which represent a letter, groups of letters, words and numbers and more. There is code for braille literacy, maths, science, music and languages. Braille can be accessed on paper or with refreshable braille display technology.

As well as resources for learning braille in line with the Curriculum Framework for Children and young People with a Vision Impairment, resources needed to be adapted for students in lessons for all subjects.

Click an image in the gallery for more information.

A5 card with digraph letter sounds written on: ch, gh, sh, th, wh and ?. These are then also written in braille. There are six orange cards with the matching braille signs on.

Braille Signs Bingo Matching Cards

Whether recapping signs or introducing new signs, you can create a bingo board and matching cards for any signs you are working on. These boards are laminated for longevity with sticky braille labels on top.

Don't forget to cut the top right corner to ensure the student knows which way up it goes. By writing the letters in ink and with braille, the student can play with sighted peers or be supported by an non-braille reading adult.

A4 sheet of swell paper divided into three sections with raised horizontal lines. Each row has a braille heading/category. Braille flashcard words are placed onto the table to sort the vocabulary accordingly depending on the lesson subject.

Vocabulary Sorting

This sorting grid is made using swell paper with lines for the different sections and brailled headings. The vocabulary flashcards, with top right corner cut for orientation, can then be read and sorted by the student. It is better to arrange the table in rows as columns can often be too narrow to fit the braille flashcard on. This can be adapted for most curriculum subjects.

Maths Bingo or Target Cards

This bingo maths matching game is made using card, sticky braille paper and regular braille paper flashcards. It can be used for simple matching or a maths problem can be presented to the child to solve and then cover the answer with a piece of blue tak.

A piece of braille text with some words underlined using Wikki Stix.

Underlining Words

To encourage active participation in class Wikki Stix are brilliant for enabling the student to underline words, feature, spellings, grammar etc.

In this poem the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan, the student was learning the -ong final letter contraction, so underlined those and then underlined my braille mistakes!

This is a simple resource for interventions and in class work.

A swell paper image of a tree with a suffix label for -ness and -less next to branches on each side of the tree. At the roots are brailled root words on leaf shaped flashcards (with a flat edge cut for orientation). The student can choose a root word leaf and stick it on the correct branch.

Making Learning Interesting

This braille suffix tree just adds some interest to learning new suffix signs. The tree gives a sensory element to the lesson and provides a fun way to learn new signs rather than just reading text or flashcards.

With the leaf flashcards, the right edge is cut flat for orientation.

A Recipe for Life

This poem was embossed to teach the suffix final letter braille contraction -ful.

The poem was cut up into lines so the student could read one line at a time (as sometimes presenting a lot of text can be daunting for a braillist still developing reading speed).

Strips of braille sentences with the top right corner cut on each, they are fanned out on the table.

Choose a Sentence

Cutting braille text into lines can be less daunting than presenting a page of text. You can play this in the style of 'Short Straws'.

This is especially good if a student is a reluctant reader or becomes frustrated by lots of text or developing readers.

Don't forget to cut the top right corner for orientation.

Rows of braille signs spaced out with two odd signs on each line.

Odd One Out

This classic activity helps to discriminate between signs through touch, by finding the two odd signs out on each line.

A student does not need to know what the signs are to determine the odd ones out. This is a great starting activity for a new braillist learning grade 1 braille.

Blankety Blank

Braille interventions can be quite 'dry' so it is important to find ways to keep students interested. Blankety Blank is always a winner!

I either braille them, as in the photo, for students to then braille their idea for the blank or I read out a Blankety Blank sentence for them to write the whole thing. You then have to guess what their blank word is.

You can use this format to focus on new signs taught or revisit learning. Leaving a typo or two also keeps the student on their toes and they love to find a mistake from their teacher!