Whenever possible, children should have access to the same materials as their sighted peers; the same reading schemes, maths schemes, work sheets etc.

The activity should be the same kind of activity for Braillists as it is for print users. E.g. reading activities cannot readily be replaced by taped or dictated adaptations, interpretation of tactile pictures and diagrams needs to be taught and used.

Texts can be made available to children from three sources:

published Braille materials.

tactile materials produced on site by computer.

tactile materials produced on site using a Perkins, objects, models, and textured materials.

oral descriptions or dictations, either taped or in class.

 

Principles of good practice in resource production:

First - its important to note that a good knowledge of Braille is required to use computer production - it is a method of speeding up production, but still requires and understanding of adaptation and Braille rules.

Remember that educational texts do not just use prose, but maths, science and foreign language characters as well. It is important for the operator to understand the way in which the translation package works, and preferably to be able to write translation code.

 To produce Braille on a computer your minimum requirements are a Braille translation software package and an embosser.

It is also an advantage to have:

a reasonably advanced word processor, such as Lotus Word Pro, or Microsoft Word.

an optical character recognition package and scanner - this can speed up text entry (but not always).

If you are using Braille computers in your school, it helps to run the same translation software on your production computer and the Braille portables. For instance, Braillemaster runs on the PC and the Aria (and the old Eureka), using the same translation rules on both machines.

 In an integrated school you are likely to be producing for both partially sighted and blind children. It makes sense to originate work in such a way that it can be easily adapted for either.

For instance, you can prepare your documents in large print format, with the desired font and size and other formatting details. However, this document can also contain all required embedded Braille commands (e.g. the double or triple comma for italics in Braillemaster). If a large print version is required, these Braille commands can be stripped out quickly using search and replace. If a Braille version is required, the text can be saved as ASCII and translated by your translation software.

This saves time in the long run, as the same item is usually wanted in many formats over the years. This technique is only useful for plays, novels and other largely text based books. Text books for geography, maths, science etc. usually require a great deal of adaptation for both the Braille and large print versions, and generally get prepared separately.

The steps in Braille production are:

Enter your text, making any required adaptations to the exercises or descriptions.

Insert any special codes required by your translation software, for instance to insert an italic sign or force a page break.

Clearly refer to and describe any tactile graphics which will be inserted in the final book.

Check any text strings which you feel may not translate correctly using your Braille program's verification system, and correct such strings using either direct dot number entry or by editing your translation rules.

Save your text in a format suitable for your translation software.

In your translation software, select the correct Braille code (e.g. grade 2, grade 1, maths).

Translate the text.

If necessary, go into the translated text and re-format.

Send the file to your embosser.