[acb-diabetics] free braille books for kids

[Julie Chinn]

Thought this would be of interest to some of you. This info was sent to me
by my friend at  the Delta Center for Independent Living.

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I found the following story on the NPR iPhone App:
 
<http://www.npr.org/2011/06/17/137225099/free-books-for-kids-now-also-availa
ble-in-braille?sc=17&f=1008>
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/17/137225099/free-books-for-kids-now-also-availab
le-in-braille?sc=17
<http://www.npr.org/2011/06/17/137225099/free-books-for-kids-now-also-availa
ble-in-braille?sc=17&f=1008> &f=1008

Free Books For Kids Now Also Available In Braille
by Dalton Main, Kentucky Public Radio

- June 17, 2011

Soniya Patel's 3-year-old daughter loves getting a book in the mail each
month. It comes from the Dollywood Foundation's Imagination Library, which
sends free books each month to hundreds of thousands of children. But Patel
is blind, so reading new books to her daughter isn't so simple. Patel has
the book read aloud to her, and she transcribes the text on her Braille
typewriter - and then she can read the new book to her daughter.

"I've Brailled several [books] since she was born, because that's the only
way that I'd be able to read it to her," Patel says. "If it's not done, then
you've got to find a way to do it."

On Friday, this process will get easier. The Dollywood Foundation will begin
a partnership with American Printing House for the Blind to expand their
offerings to include books in Braille. Patel says getting already-Brailled
books will lift a barrier between her and her daughter.

The books will be produced at the APH factory in in Louisville, Ky., which
is filled with modern dot-making machines - as well as some from the 1800s.
Plate embossing devices punch out text. For graphs, charts and pictures, the
printing house uses a device that looks like a sewing machine.

APH is the official educational materials supplier for legally blind grade
school students in the U.S., producing everything from books to standardized
tests. But the company also does contract work and develops technology, too;
last year it released an iPod-like device that reads and stores text as
audio. The company also released a machine called a Braillo, which embosses
pages electronically and eliminates the need for a person to hand-collate
the sheets.

There's no shortage of synthetic speech programs for computers or talking
toys for kids, but Patel says you can't replace the developmental value of
learning to read Braille and the independence that comes with it.

"It's empowering for me as a parent to be able to read to my child at this
age," Patel says. Introducing children to Braille is even more powerful.
"They kind of get an idea of: These dots are words, you know?"

After all, Patel says, for children who are blind, learning to read Braille
is learning to read. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

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