Lynette Rudman of Teddy Bears Playcentre in Grahamstown is the only person in the world who makes
braille books for preschoolers.
I make books for blind and visually impaired children, but they can also be used by fully sighted children, because all children like to feel with their hands, said Rudman.
Lynette Rudman of Teddy Bears Playcentre in Grahamstown is the only person in the world who makes
braille books for preschoolers.
I make books for blind and visually impaired children, but they can also be used by fully sighted children, because all children like to feel with their hands, said Rudman.
Rudman started making these books after she heard that a blind preschooler had enrolled in her school last year.
She researched teaching methods for blind children but the few she found were not very helpful, as they did not stimulate partially-sighted or blind children sufficiently to keep them interested.
How the idea for the books started is that the blind preschooler would page through books in the class and tell herself stories. Therefore I decided to make meaningful books for her, said Rudman.
I started off with very tactile things like saucers and cups before I moved to 2D images on paper. I did a lot of matching and feeling texture exercises with her to sensitise her fingers for braille, said Rudman.
Rudman then decided to make a book of shapes where the shapes were of different sizes and textures for the child to identify.
The books made by Rudman in advance with the learning stages of a preschooler in mind and she has received orders from interested schools for the blind from places like Worcester and Franschoek in the Western Cape.
The Little Circle series of story books are interactive books that a parent can read to their child and help the child place the metallic main character on the magnetic circles as the story progresses.
The books have braille prints on the left pages so that children can read for themselves once they have learnt braille. Rudman has also made a parent/teacher manual about activities that can be done with blind, partially-sighted and fully-sighted children.
The manual shows how to start easily and advance to more complex activities with children. It also has taste, smell, texture and colour exercises, because some of the partially sighted children can see some colour, said Rudman.
The preschool teacher also hosts two blind/hearing impaired children (aged two and seven) on Fridays.
I’m quite excited about that. I have seen a huge improvement since they started coming here in December. Their mothers did not know what to do with them and they did not have an opportunity to
explore.
Now I’m sensitising them to textures and smells to stimulate them. Although they are far behind
other kids, they are learning because I’m also educating their mothers on what to do at home. They will move on to the books and braille once they are
ready,said Rudman.
