Blinds Touching the Signs

What a morning! Before beginning our planning and devotional session with Martin, I talked with my co-worker Anna/Angie about her recently finished (at 4:30 this morning) dissertation. Since becoming a Christian several years ago, Angie has developed a calling to work with visually impaired children. Her dissertation involves techniques for both teaching VI children and integrating them into regular classes, policy proposals for VI curriculum, and evaluations of her classroom materials, based on surveys giving to VI child who tried the materials.

She showed me her very beautifully bound volume, which was filled with exercises that she has designed. I am so happy for the children that Angie will teach, because she has an incredible level of energy for this population and has developed very creative approaches to make learning accessible for them.

My favorite activity that she had developed gave both seeing and VI children a fun way to learn Czech homonyms. Angie picked a series of homonym pairs that contained at least one word that represents a tangible thing.

On a piece of paper, Angie wrote in both large, bold letters and in braille a cute, short statement involving one homonym. The other homonym was represented by the actual object, glued to the piece of paper.

For example, the word for snowflake is the same as the word for a piece of oatmeal (vločky). Glued to the statement about snow falling from the sky was a little matchbox filled with oats.

All sorts of homonyms, like mushroom/sponge, paw/pillow, and shark/a shoe so old the sole has separated from the toe, making the shoe look like it has a jaw, were represented with a tactile element.

She also spent three months creating a three dimensional book that depicts a popular Czech fairytale. Every page is written in braille, and every illustration is a fully-interactive felt, bark, carboard, wax, bead, and elastic work of art. Any child, blind or otherwise, can interact with this book with more sense than just sight. And what am I saying 'child' for? I had an awesome time touching everything too. My favorite character was the stretch man, whose superpower was, if you can guess, stretching. Angie had sewed his felt clothes to an elastic base, so that children (or adults who, like me, were exploring tactile learning solely for professional edification) could tug and stretch him.

If integrating classrooms can bring more materials like this into schools, what are we waiting for? What child wouldn't want to read a book that they get to touch allover and tug on?

And an interesting side note: today Martin talked about the 'kitchen robot' he will get at his upcoming wedding. While I started imaging what this crazy invention could do in a kitchen, Martin clarified that it was their word for a blender. I was relieved and disappointed.