VIDBE-Q Volume 68 Issue 4
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how I would accomplish this, and I did not know anything about accessible books
or braille, but I was going to figure it out. I was going to make books for him and
get books into his little hands once more. Thus began my accessible literacy
journey.
The Beginning
At the time, I checked online, and I could not find a lot of information or
ideas on how to create books for young blind children. I was not quite sure what to
do but the ideas soon started flowing. I started by finding empty cardboard
scrapbooking type books at local crafting stores. I would glue tactile shapes and
objects onto the pages. I would purchase already made children's board books that
had tactile "touch and feel" pieces on them already. Anything I could think of. I
tried to make the books interactive (have pieces you can turn, slide, or flip) and
teach little lessons (shapes, counting, positioning, and language). I asked his TSVI
if he could help me with the braille for my first set of homemade tactile braille
books. I would give him a list of words/sentences to braille on and he graciously
and happily provided them on label paper for me. I would stick them onto Liam's
new books. Liam did not know braille yet and neither did I! But I was determined
he would be a braille reader, and I wanted him exposed to braille and wanted to
create a braille rich environment for him. His TSVI shared a few resources I could
use to teach myself braille as a starting point, and eventually he taught a
