Braille Exchange

2011-05-10-Braille Exchange

Seminars@Hadley

Braille Exchange

Presented by Susan Fisher Sharon Howerton

Moderated by Billy Brookshire

May 10, 2011

Billy Brookshire I’d like to welcome everyone to Seminars@Hadley. My name is Billy Brookshire. I’ll be your moderator today. And again, our topic today is Braille Exchange and I hope you’re going to be treating this kind of like a swap meet, folks, I hope you brought lots of things you can exchange and share with others here.

Your presenters today are Susan Fisher and Sharon Howerton who are going to be moderating and leading the discussion and they’re both Hadley instructors and they teach that thing that you’re all here to learn more about and offer more about called Braille. And I guess with that in mind and knowing

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 1 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange who your presenters are, I don’t have anything else to say but again, let me welcome Susan and Sharon and folks, I’m handing the microphone all over to you.

Sharon Howerton Hi, this is Sharon Howerton. Both Susan and I are here at Hadley central. It’s nice to have all of you here. She was reading me some of the names of the people who are here. It’s nice to hear some familiar names – people who have been my students before or are now, so welcome everyone.

Just as a form of introduction, I teach Braille Literacy I and II which are our first Braille courses. The first one is kind of a reading readiness course; the second one is one in which we learn the alphabet. I’ve been with Hadley almost nine years and I think I’ve been teaching Braille for five of those years or something like that. It’s been a lot of fun; I’ve really enjoyed it and we’re really anxious to get your ideas, to share ideas among ourselves. I always figure we learn from each other.

With that said, I have office hours for my students on Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Central Time in our student lounge and we talk about our Braille experiences; concerns that people have about doing their lessons and we just in general talk. I started to do this

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 2 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange because it seemed like a good way for people to be connected to each other and to us as instructors. So if you have any interest in joining us, just get in touch with me through Hadley. As you know, you can email us by using our first or last name @Hadley.edu.

So that’s basically my introduction. I am totally blind, by the way. I have been all my life so I am quite a proficient Braille user. So now I will give this to Susan.

Susan Fisher Thanks, Sharon. This is Susan Fisher. I’ll give you a little bit of my background. I teach the Braille Literacy III and IV courses. The Braille Literacy course is both a reading and writing of uncontracted Braille. In addition, I teach Braille Literacy IV which is reading and writing of contracted Braille. I also teach Abacus I and II. I will celebrate my 30th birthday at Hadley – not my birthday, but my 30 years of service at Hadley – in the fall and prior to working at Hadley, I worked for eight years in the public schools in the Resource Room for students with visual impairment.

In addition to my work at Hadley, for the last eight years I’ve been teaching Braille to future teachers of the blind at Northern Illinois University. I also teach Abacus I and II. And we would like to invite you to

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 3 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange listen to some of our past archived seminars. In particular, there’s a couple of Braille ones that might be interesting to you. One is called the Braille Literacy Crisis and the other is Braille Every Day, Every Way. So keep those in mind.

Like Sharon, I run office hours for my students and I started doing that because Sharon was having such success with hers and was so enthusiastic about it. So we’ve been meeting since last September every Tuesday from 3:30 until 4:15 Central Time and I invite you to join our lively discussions where we motivate each other and we share joys and frustrations and it’s really been a fun experience.

In addition, I run a Braille pen pal program. So if you would like to be paired up with someone to practice reading and writing Braille through letters, contact me about that. With that I think Sharon’s going to get us started. We don’t have a formal agenda here. We would like you to join in at any time with any questions or ideas.

One thing I do want to mention is with regards to my office hours which are on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 4:15 Central Time, there is a change in the office hours for next Tuesday, which is May 17 – we will be meeting at the same time that we’re meeting today

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 4 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange next Tuesday and that will be 11 until 11:45. So if you want to start joining us next week, there is a change in our hours. So I’m going to let Sharon start us off with some good ideas. Sharon Howerton Well, let me go back to the introduction because I also teach a parenting series that we have for blind and visually-impaired parents. And some other things I do on the outside – I am a guide dog handler and have done a lot of stuff with representing guide dogs in the Chicago area. Both of us are in Illinois and actually in the Hadley building today.

Susan Fisher And I should interject – I apologize. I don’t think I mentioned this. I am sighted. This is Susan talking. Okay, Sharon, take it away.

Sharon Howerton Okay, so a couple things just to get us started. I had an email from a former student of mine who was talking about that he couldn't be here today but he wanted to share an idea about putting labels on an elastic type of thing. You type on a card; there’s elastic around it and you can put that on cans. He said he would put that on frozen items and put them in a bag, for example, a Zip-Lock bag if you had several of something. Because I’m sure, Lord knows

I have had mystery meat no end of times. So I can’t tell you that I’m always as good at labeling as I should be, but I’m going to remember this. So if it did these kinds of things it would indeed be a helpful thing.

I also have found a use for business cards. You know, my former life I was a rehab counselor and so I ended up having lots of business cards of my own but I didn’t need any more. And I find those really helpful because they can be recycled and used for things that I’m not going to need a number for for very long, for example, or something that I want to remember. The card stock is really good for using with a slight auto- Braille writer and I find them to be really useful just for simple things – just a few letters or numbers then I can throw them out and then I haven’t wasted them. So those are just some things to get us started and we really invite your comments.

Sandy This is Sandy in New Jersey and to add to Sharon’s comments about labeling - in the kitchen I find that the cards with the rubber bands that Sharon talks about are a little too big for spice containers. So what I’ve done is used my Braille labeler with the sticky back and labeled the jars so I don’t have to keep relabeling. When that jar becomes empty and I buy a replacement, I just pour the replacement into the

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. We were just talking about this the other day actually at my office hours. We were talking about putting the label on the top of the jar, the cover, and for one of the students it seemed like that was a better idea for her than putting it on the jar itself. And I even got a spice one time where there was Braille already on the label from the manufacturer, so that was kind of neat to see. My son gave me a box that he bought yesterday that had the word Band-Aids in Braille. He said he’d never seen that before; it was kind of nice to see.

Patti Jacobson This is Patti Jacobson. I’m one of the instructors at the Hadley School and I wanted to tell you three real quick things. Greeting cards – I have boxes of different miscellaneous greeting cards and I put 4x6 cards, Braille cards, in each greeting card indicating what it says so that way when I’m ready to send out a greeting card to somebody, I can just flip through my cards and pick the one I want.

And then I have a security alarm system in my house and I put Braille Dymo tape labels on my telephone

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 7 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange receivers with the number of the security alarm company. In case my alarm goes off, I don’t have to fumble; I can quick get to the phone and reference that number very quickly.

The last thing I use Braille for – amongst many things – is keeping track of food labels and all the information on food labels. And I put them on 3x5 cards and put them in a little file box and keep them in my cupboard. I also wanted to give a plug for the fact that I teach using raised markers. And so if any of you don’t yet know Braille and still want to do some labeling, that’s a good way to start out. Thank you.

Susan Fisher Hi, this is Susan. Patti, those are such great ideas. Thank you for sharing. A couple people have written in. One asked about the pen pal program and you can send me at email – [email protected] and I’ll be glad to give you some further information.

Also, Vallie 0:11:03 asked, “How long did it take for labels to be popular?” And then he mentioned that there is a Label It book available from the National Braille Press and I happen to have a copy of that Label It book, as does Sharon, and it is just excellent. Some of our best ideas have come from that book.

Sharon Howerton I was just going to say – not related to food or necessarily Braille, but sort of what Patti was saying – I was recently on a trip to Ireland and a lot of things were not labeled. In this country when people go to a hotel, there’s a Braille number near the room. But there sometimes there was print next to the room or there was like inset print and the person I stayed with was blind also but he couldn’t read the numbers either. So I put a rubber band on the door handle so we could find it. You may have mentioned that, Patti, at one point or somebody did. It was kind of a neat idea and it sort of helped.

Susan Fisher his is Susan. I honestly don’t know the answer to your question, Vallie, about how long it took for labels to become popular, but I think we’re all very grateful that they are. I think it’s a specially wonderful idea when you take the Braille Literacy II course that you’re sent the Braille labeler because you may not be writing at that point but you can still make labels which will help you to use Braille in your life.

With regards to the pen pal program, what happens after you send me an email? What I try to do is I’ll ask you a couple of questions and I try to pair up students who are at approximately the same level in

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 9 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange their Braille and who have the same or similar interests and then you need to give me your permission to share the address where you would like your Braille letters to be mailed. And then I do my best to make a good match and I hope that you have a good time with it. I’m going to let go of the mic now and see if anybody else has anything they’d like to add.

Karen This is Karen. I would just like to add to that Braille pen pal. I encourage everybody to at least try it. I started with one and I now have two pen pals and it’s not only for talking with somebody else in the same situation as you, but you’re also reinforcing all your Braille skills, whether it’s writing or reading.

Theresa This is Theresa and I have two Braille pen pals and would just like to suggest it’s an awesome thing to do because, as I found it’s something so encouraging because you’re reading and writing Braille aside from your lessons and reading stuff that just has to do with life in general.

Phyllis Hi, this is Phyllis, by the way. I use Braille for translating music into Braille. I don’t do the actual

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 10 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange notes; I just do the words. I sing in the church choir at St. Francis of Assisi parish here in St. Louis and like I said, I have to do my own Braille music, words only. And if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be able to be in the choir. And also what I’m doing since I’m retired – I’m taking a Braille transcription course to become a certified proofreader.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. Christie wrote in that you can put the cans in the pantry in a plastic baggie and you can tell which can is used and that’ll give you a shopping list for the items that you have to replace when you go shopping. And Tina wrote in that she’s loving these ideas. She managed to get her certification and lost her skills because of what she was doing in her personal life and she’s having trouble with her eyes, but she did love it when I was doing it. So thank you. We’re glad that these ideas are very helpful.

Sharon Howerton I was just going to say that music is another thing near and dear to my heart because I also sing in a choir and take lessons and stuff. I won’t get off on that, but it’s absolutely invaluable for being able to participate in all kinds of activities because you can do these things electronically, I’m sure, but if something needs to be changed, or you lose it, you’re not going to lose every bit of music you have. You can always replace a piece of paper but you can’t always replace an electronic file in which you might have a hundred different pieces.

Susan Fisher This is Susan again. Some ideas have come through our office hours that I think are just brilliant and I don’t

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 12 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange know if Vicky is there. Vicky, you once talked about the fact that when you’re first learning the contractions that you liked to obtain some children’s rhyming books because you thought that was really helpful for you.

And Karen, I know you’re there and you suggested getting both the contracted, as well as the uncontracted Braille books and you found that to be very helpful. Either or both – Vicky and Karen – could you explain a little bit about what you did here that was really good ideas.’

Karen This is Karen. When I was first taking contraction Braille – I’ve since completed so you guys can all do it – I would order books from Perkins and I would say Grade 1 – just beginning contractions. Just remember when you’re asking for books, make sure you explain everything. They’re very helpful and they’ll get you the right books.

And when I started I would get books that had the fully contracted and the full uncontracted version of each page so I would try with the contracted – and sometimes I wouldn’t get it; sometimes I would, just by the context of the sentence – but I could always refer to the contracted version. So this will help you

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 13 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange learn the contractions. And they’re all kids’ books so you don’t get very complicated books. They’re short; simple and like I said, they do offer books in contracted and uncontracted Braille.

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. One thing I wanted to mention about getting books is try not to get something that’s going to be way over your head. I had a student who was maybe halfway through Literacy II when you’re just learning the alphabet and she requested a Braille Bible and 21 huge volumes in contracted Braille showed up at her house. And not only was she overwhelmed, but it may have been discouraging to her.

I had another student who ordered something similar to that – not as long – he took one look at it and said, “You know what? This is beyond me. I’m sending it back.” So just be mindful. And it’s so good to get books like that. I always encourage students to do that too and to get ones that are sometimes if you can, the print Braille so that if you do run into trouble and you have someone around that can see, they can see what it is that you’re trying to figure out so you don’t get too frustrated and continue.

Susan Fisher

It’s Susan. And another thing our office hours participants have suggested is getting the audio book to go with the Braille so that way, again, if you get stuck you have the audio to refer to or you could do kind of a little read-along, so another good suggestion there. And I think it’s always important to make sure that you’re having fun when you’re learning something new, so we send out decks of Braille playing cards. You can get Braille Bingo cards; there’s Braille Scrabble; you can think about writing and reading your own recipes and when you go to a restaurant you can see if they have a Braille menu.

Another thing – we have information as to where you can obtain free Braille clothing tags which will allow you to identify your clothing because you could read the color on it. I’m going to let go of the mic and see if someone else has something to add.

John It’s John in Nova Scotia, Canada. I’m wondering – is the Hadley student lounge just open for Hadley students or it is open to anybody? That’s my question.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. Both Sharon and I agree that you certainly are welcome, even if you’re not a Hadley

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 15 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange student. We all have a lot to share so please come and join us. And Jeanette wrote in that audio and Braille books is how she learned uncontracted Braille, so a very, very good suggestion. Jess Hi, I’m Jess. I’m from Australia. One of the things I found when I’m getting books is I need to order books that are up to date. When I was first reading I got books printed in the 1960s which is available in Australia and the contractions are so different. So I don’t know if you’ve got the same problem, but getting books that are printed in the last 10 or 15 years.

John Is there a password for the student lounge or can I just put it on my desktop and just go right in there? Is there a password for the student lounge?

Sharon Howerton There are two things. Yes, you need to contact us before you do that. It’s not just open to just anyone so you’d need to get in touch with either Susan or myself to discuss access to the student lounge. I’m curious about the lady from Australia. You have different contractions than we do in the States, for example, I think.

That’s true, we do have different contractions, but they’re not very different. I can transfer between American and Australian Braille, but I can’t transfer between Braille made in 2005 and Braille made in 1980 or 1975. Caller Are you in Australia using UEB Code? Are you aware of that? That’s the Braille code with contractions used in most European countries and maybe Australia is using that.

Jess Yeah, we are using UAC now in Australia, yes. But that’s only come into existence in the last five, six, seven years maybe. I’m not sure. I’m still a really, really new Braille user so I’m not as up to date as I could be.

Patti I wanted to go back to using labels for canned goods. You can use magnetic Dymo tape and when they’re not sticking on the cans, you can stick them to the refrigerator and then they’re helpful in making a shopping list. And then you can take them to the store with you and label your cans as you select them off the shelf and that way, when you get your groceries home, you have the labeled.

Susan Fisher Thank you, Patti, and here’s another question about labeling. This is from Christie. “When you label a spice bottle, does it work better to place the Braille label up and down the long way on the bottle rather than wrapping it around the bottle, which sighted people do, but it requires taking it off the rack to read.” I’ll let go of the mic and hopefully someone has a good answer to this.

Caller I don’t have a spice rack; I have a spice cabinet and I put my labels on side-to-side and they’ve been on for a long time. And I have to say that was when I was most proud putting those labels on because it’s very difficult to decipher spices after you smell so many. It’s much easier just to pick it up, read the label and be done with it. And I did try putting some on the top but they don’t seem to stay on the top as much as they do on the paper. I think it’s the plastic, so my preference is side-to-side on the bottle.

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. I always say this and I think we all have our systems for doing things and I think the bottom line is all we can do is give ideas to people and each of us has our own situation. So whatever

Susan Fisher Hello, I’m sorry, this is Susan. One of the things I wanted to talk about is when you’re working with the slate and stylus and you get interrupted, how do you know where you left off? Darren, I believe you are there and you had, I thought, a really brilliant suggestion about using a button. Would you explain that because you did so well, please?

Darren Hi, this is Darren. And what I use to keep my place is I actually use a button that’s designed for a pair of jeans. So it’s flat on the button side and then it has a metal post that sticks on through that you sew onto the jeans. So as you work on the slate and stylus, when you get to a point where you need to stop, if you put the button upside down with the flat side down, the post actually sticks out through the hole of the slate and then you can go ahead, the slate closes and then you can come back to it later and you know exactly what cell that you left on.

Caller That’s an awesome idea, Darren, I never thought of that.

Darren In my slate and stylus bag I keep my slate, a couple of styluses and then at least one button and then that way I’ve got it for every time that I’m working with some things.

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. That’s really good to do that. I have four styluses, styli, whatever you want to call them, and I was at an event a couple of years ago and got a square whiskey glass as a prize for something. And those styli fit in there just perfectly. Otherwise, they roll everywhere. I lose them on my desk, all the rest of that stuff. So if you put them in one particular place, it really helps, I think. And I try to do the same with slates to keep them in one place too. One is a larger one and stuff. It’s so much easier if we can be organized, whether it’s by labeling things or whatever, but if you gotta keep searching for things I just think that is so annoying and so frustrating.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. Darren, you’re getting lots of really good feedback about your button idea. Tina wrote that she hadn’t thought about that either and it’s “cool” and Jeanette wrote that it’s “neat” and Jessie wrote in from Wendell, “If you buy the same product, you could remove the jar’s top from the old jar and put it on the new jar.” So for spices, something good to think about when you’re labeling. I’m wondering if any others have some good ideas about what they do when they’re working with the slate and stylus and they get interrupted – how to find their place.

Karen This is Karen from Wisconsin and when I’m working on the slate, I take my stylus and go in from the underside and put the point through the cell that I need to start on next and then I know where I am on a line. Usually you can open it up and just feel and figure it out if you’ve been doing it as many years as I have.

Susan Fisher That’s exactly right. Those who have been using it for a long time – that’s a good point. A couple of other things that were discussed during our office hours with regard to finding your place was using raised markers or if you have some sight, using colored masking tape or magnetic strips or rubber bands. Any thoughts about any of those that you’ve had success with?

Theresa This is Theresa and I would like to just emphasize I’ve had great success using the raised markers and that’s made life so much easier for me, just being able to find my place so easy.

Marie I’d like to know where you find the raised markers.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. I don’t know who was asking a question, but I’m sorry we couldn’t hear you. Maybe you need to adjust your mic a little bit or perhaps you can write it in. Vallie wrote in, “What I do when I use a slate and stylus is when I’m finished I mark my place with a GED class card or either a Braille bookmark,” and that’s an excellent way too. And if you need some Braille bookmarks, we have plenty here at Hadley that we’d be happy to send you. They have the Braille alphabet on them.

Billy Brookshire Susan, Marie asked where you can find the raised markers.

Patti Jacobson I’m Patti Jacobson. I’m the one that teaches using raised markers and when you take that course you get a lot of markers plus you get a resource list that tells you where you can get them. But you can get them at places like Maxi Aids and Independent Living Aids, some well-known places like that.

Sharon Howerton

Patti, you’re awesome. Thank you so much for that. And we were talking before about resource lists and we neglected to mention that on the Hedley website we have resource lists for a lot of our courses, including our Braille courses where you can get some of these ideas, places where you can purchase refurbished Braille writers, for example – a lot of stuff like that.

And you know, Patti is the lady that teaches a lot of our independent living and cooking courses so you sure might want to take a look at some of that with her. And she’s been trying to do office hours too, so keep that in mind. She knows, as you can tell, she knows an awful lot and there’s nothing like learning from someone who has done so many of these things before. She also teaches our guide dog course, so gotta get a plug in for Patti.

Susan Fisher This is Susan and I want to address a couple things that people have been writing in. “How much are the bookmarks at Hadley?” We can send you a couple of those. Just email either Sharon or you can email me and we’ll be happy to put a couple in the mail for you.

This is a great idea. This is from Rosa and she writes, “Hi, Patti. This is Rosa, one of your students

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 24 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange from way back when. It would be nice to have a second level of this class. It is a lifesaver.” So I think that’s a plug for a second level for the Braille labeling class. What a terrific idea.

We’ve got a lot more things here about labeling. “How can you label refrigerated items? Example – mayonnaise, relish, pickles, etc. They are in similar shaped and sized jars. Wouldn’t stick-on labels peel off?” And Christie wrote, “Jars could be labeled by holding Braille cards on with a paper band.”

This is from Dawn: “Any good ideas for labeling boxed freezer items, such as frozen dinners? I’ve had trouble with Braille cards sliding out under the rubber band.” And Jackie wrote, “I just found an online resource for Braille supplies and it’s called Future Aids.” Sharon’s email address is – Sharon, Vallie asked for your email address. Go ahead.

Sharon Howerton [email protected].

Susan Fisher And Christie wrote in, “The best time to label freezer items is when you first bring them back from the store when they are dry and labels will stick better.” So I’m going to let go of the mic in just a minute and we can

But there was one question also that was written and it was someone who said that they’re having trouble with their paper slipping. And with the Braille Literacy I materials, you are sent a non-slip pad which is excellent.

Sharon Howerton Maybe not.

Susan Fisher Maybe not? We’re not doing that? Okay, I guess I’m mistaken.

Sharon Howerton I lost track of what they receive. It may be on the packing slip, but I’m not sure if we’re sending that.

Susan Fisher Okay, we’ll check into that, but regardless, I just received a catalog this week from Exceptional Teaching and I did see that they sell a non-slip activity pad and this one is larger than the one we used to send out or maybe we are still with the Hadley materials. But it’s called a Jumbo Non-Slip Activity Pad and it’s exactly for that reason. So they must

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 26 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange have a smaller version too because the description says, “It’s a larger version of our Non-Slip Activity Pad; it’s a textured, rubber mat, the perfect non-slip surface.”

And this one is so large that it says there’s room for a Brailler or for just spreading out materials. It’s 14 inches by 28 and it’s $13.95 from Exceptional Teaching. So I’m going to let go of the mic and maybe we can talk more about labeling and you may have other ideas in addition to the non-slip pad so that materials don’t move. Jessica wrote in, “I received a non-stick pad last year with Braille Reading I.” Thank you, Jessica.

Sharon Howerton I was just going to comment about Braille writers. You know, they can be pretty noisy. A few years ago I was brailing out a bunch of music that my director wanted us to go through and I just pounded this out and my landlady came up and said, “You know, I’ve heard this noise and I can’t imagine what this is.” She said, “My husband and I have been outside; we’ve looked here; it’s just not there. I wonder what it is. Have you heard anything?”

And my son was in there with me and we said, “Well, no.” And then they left and I started writing again. He

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 27 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange said, “I think I know what it is.” So we called them in and he said, “Okay, mom, write some more.” So some people don’t realize how loud that machine can be and especially if you’re living in an apartment or something like that. So you might want to put one of those pads or somebody told me they put a towel under the Braille writer when they’re going to use it so if you’re going to be pounding out stuff for a long period of time, that may be something to consider. Some of our long-time Braille users may have some other ideas too.

Susan Fisher Sharon, my husband’s going to thank you for that idea because he complains about the level of my noise. Darren wrote in that Rubbermaid makes a shelf paper that works great. It comes in a roll and it is white, so there’s another non-stick idea. And Dawn asked, “What class has the raised line markers?” So that would be… Patti, I’m going to let you answer that one – the exact name of the course. I think it’s Using Raised Markers, if I’m not mistaken.

And Rosa said that she buys the rubber-type mat that you buy for lining your cupboards and your drawers and it is perfect for holding your Brailler in place. “I buy my roll at Costco for very little. It’s about 36

Vallie asked Darren how much the paper is and Christie says, “Our VR teachers supply a Dycem pad – yes, D-Y-C-E-M pad which is available through Maxi Aids. And Darren answered the question and he says it’s $6 per roll, so I’m going to let go of the mic again. Lots of really great ideas. Anybody else?

Patti Jacobson This is Patti Jacobson from Hadley again and, Sharon, I want to thank you for your kind words and I do want to, I guess, give a plug for my office hours because I would love to talk to you all about using Braille and raised markers and other labeling methods or however you want to use Braille or raised markers for independent living purposes.

And my office hours are Mondays from 3:00 to 4:00 Central Time and I would love to be able to talk to you.

Caller I have a couple suggestions as far as freezer items. I think the best way to label those – I know things do slide off – but if you take an index card, hole-punch the ends and then take a rubber band, break it, tie the

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 29 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange rubber band in the end so now the rubber band is affixed to the index card, and then wrap the rubber band index card around the item, then that should stay until your husband goes in there and messes it all up. But that should work.

And as far as labeling things in the refrigerator, after a while you get to know what’s different, but I have two kids – one likes strawberry jelly; one likes grape; one likes plain cream cheese; one likes flavored cream cheese. So I put a raised dot on the one that I like and that way I know which is which.

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. We used to, well we still do, have two different kinds of milk. One of my kids likes Vitamin D milk and my other son and I use skim. Used to be I would put a twist tie on one and not the other. Now we have a place large enough in the door of the refrigerator to put them separately and the one with the skim is always toward the front and the Vitamin D is always toward the back. So it’s all a system. We all have systems.

And just going back to the labeling freezer thing, I get some stuff in boxes from an organization called Market Day and so what I’ve done with some of those is – they have cookies and different kinds of things –

I’ve put either a 3x5 index card or my famous business cards and put them inside the box. Either tape it in there or just put them inside the box. That doesn’t work for certain things, but you could perhaps put some of that in a Zip-Lock bag if you have several small things and that could keep some of them together too.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. Rosa wrote in, “Sorry, can’t hear you. Can you hear us? Can someone please confirm that you can hear us?”

Sandy This is Sandy. I can hear you just fine.

Susan Fisher Thank you, Sandy. I appreciate that. Jessica wrote in that she’s excited to hear about Patti’s office hours. It fits the Australian time zone really well. Well, we’re glad about that. Okay, so I think you can hear us. Thank you for answering that. You know, Patti, I just want to confirm the correct – did I give the correct title of the course – Using Raised Markers – and also could you confirm – if I’m not mistaken, this course is an excellent course for people who are just beginning Braille, but it’s also a really good course for those who have been using Braille because it just gives you a whole lot of new ideas and very creative ways to use your new Braille skills. So, Patti, could you address that issue and then Jeanette, you had a question that we’ll address after we hear from Patti please.

Patti Yes, the course is called Using Raised Markers and I have people that take the course that don’t know any

Braille at all and people that know a lot of Braille. And I think as with anything regarding blindness, the best adjusted people are the ones who have options and so even though you may know Braille really well, sometimes a raised marker just comes in really handy and vice versa. So I would welcome anybody that wants to take the course.

Susan Fisher Thanks, Patti. A couple of things – Jeanette asked, “How many courses can you take at once?” My understanding is that after you complete three assignments in one course, then you can enroll in a second. If think if you want to discuss this with our Student Services, you can address that question to them. They really have a lot of knowledge in that area. That would be the Student Services Department.

And Heather wrote, “Are the courses offered online options as well?” Some of our courses are offered online. Our Braille courses, for those who are learning to read by touch, are not offered online.

Sharon Howerton But you can send lessons by email in any number of courses. Not courses like Braille Literacy III or IV, or

Susan Fisher Rosa said that she’s going to sign out and back in cause she’s only hearing bits and pieces and she asked when this will be available. I believe that this will be archived in probably two or three days. I just want to remind you that if you’re enjoying this discussion that we’re having today, this is exactly what we do during our office hours and there’s many options of that. Sharon’s are on Thursday; mine are on Tuesdays and Patti’s are on Mondays. So this is exactly what we do during our office hours. We just share lots and lots of ideas.

I had one woman in our office hours who one day she just piped up and said, “Okay, group, I’m getting a little frustrated.” She felt that she was at a little bit of a frustrating point in learning Braille and she just asked for the others to help encourage her. And that’s exactly what they did. So we pretty much are here for what you want to do and let you roll with it. So join our office hours if you’re enjoying this. Jessie asked, “How much are the raised line markers and where can you get them?” Patti, do you want to answer that one?

Patti You know what? I’m not sure how much they are, but you can get them at places like Maxi Aids and Independent Living Aids. There’s lots of different kinds of raised markers and you can even buy some little felt – they’re little sticky disks that go under glass figurines so that you don’t scratch your furniture. And you can buy some things like that at Wal-Mart. We got some other resources of places where you can buy things just in your local community, so if you’d like to take Raised Markers or join my office hours, we can talk about those resources.

Sharon Howerton You know, the special places for the blind are great resources, but like Patti was saying and Susan was just saying to me, you can get stuff within your community, sometimes cheaper and adapt it to your own needs.

Susan Fisher I’ve seen a lot of products that can be used for markers at the local hardware store, at Bed Bath & Beyond. A couple things. Billy, thank you. He said that the archived class will be available in a couple of days and Bob writes, “Hi, group. I am a long-time Braille user and I still find new uses for raised line

Susan said she took the Using Raised Markers course and purchased markers of all sizes. She uses some to spell out words in Braille with the little ones and some family members are learning Braille words. What a great idea. And remember, your family members can take our Hadley courses and they too can learn to read.

Sharon Howerton Those are the Braille for Sighted Learners – that’s a different track than Braille for Tactile Learners. And those are available online.

Ellie Yes, this is Ellie Shuman. I wonder if you could include in the text chant because I’ll save a copy of it and then I’ll reference. You mentioned in adaptive teaching or something - see, I’ve already forgotten the exact name – and where you can get the pre-Braille labels for clothing because I’ll forget before I leave today. Thank you.

Susan Fisher You’re very welcome. This is Susan. The jumbo non- slip activity pad – I think that you were asking about

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 36 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange that. Billy, could you write in for me please if that’s from Exceptional Teaching, Inc. and with regards to the clothing tabs, the woman who distributes them asks that you send her a letter in writing. She does not accept phone calls. She asks that you send her a letter in writing requesting them. If you send me an email, I will be glad to share her contact information with you. And by the way, this is Susan. You can email me at [email protected].

Ellie Thank you, Susan. I am just slow in sending my last lesson for Literacy I and I believe I’ll be having you for II. But, Sharon, if you are there, I am sending it in today, but thank you.

Sharon Howerton Yes, Ellie, I was wondering what happened to you and we’ve missed you on office hours too.

Marie Patterson Hi. This is Marie Patterson in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I took the Using Raised Markers class and it really changed my life. I did it before I took the Braille courses – I’m on Braille Literacy III right now and I have my stove and my microwave and my washer and dryer all marked with markers and I got mine at Lowe’s and/or Home Depot. I use the little markers or

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 37 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange the little things that you use inside your kitchen cabinets and they work great. They really stick on and I just love Hadley. I think it’s just wonderful for all of us. Thanks so much.

Susan Fisher I do too and I love Lowe’s because my kid works there. This is Susan. Christie asked about the clothing tags – will she accept a Braille letter? I think the letter needs to be in print. And Louis wants to turn back to the music. “I would like to tell you that I work as a musician. I play guitar, keyboard and I sing too. While I sing, I use Braille to read the lyrics, I use contracted Braille. To separate the lyrics I use labels with the beginning sign of the lyric I want to sing. There is no problem to use Braille in this way. Thank you. And thank you for sharing that.

And I know, Darren, you were using Braille in church not too long ago, if you’d like to share that with us. And Dawn wrote in www.independentliving.com. Thank you. I’m going to let go of the mic now.

Darren This is Darren. I had an opportunity at Christmastime to be able to read some passages along with the rest of the congregation. So I asked Sharon to give me a helping hand to figure out how to do this while

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 38 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange standing and she suggested to go ahead and to put the Braille upside down where the top of my page rested on my tummy, basically, and you read from the bottom up from left to right as you normally would while you’re standing and talking which actually worked out real well.

And since then I actually have done some other public speaking and have used the technique. So Sharon, if you could also talk about this, I’m talking about what you do when you sing and also if Louis could talk about how he does it, that would be helpful.

Louis I was a town crier for a local school here in [Ceden Kay Bren] and I used to use an aluminum music stand and I’d tape my Braille speech in the right order so that I could read it from left to right – that’s what I used to do.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. I want to announce what Dawn wrote in that Hadley’s developing a course called Braille Music Reading and we’ve had a discussion about that during our office hours. I know a lot of people are excited about that. Crystal asked, “Do you not read the music in Braille? Braille music correlates with letters D through J in Braille. It is easy to use and I

Sharon Howerton This is Sharon. I personally don’t know the Braille music notation code – I will freely admit that – but I think it’s important that a person have a good familiarity with the literary code which is what we’re all talking about here, before you learn some of the special codes like the Braille music code. And there is a book that teaches that from National Braille Press and we’ll be doing it too. Or the math and science code which is called Nemeth which we teach. So there are a lot of special things, but get your basics down first and then take on some of the more specialized kinds of things.

Phyllis This is Phyllis. I do want to mention that used to take a course in Braille Writing from Pam Bortz from Hadley. She’s an excellent teacher and I really learned a lot from it. I just felt like it would help me write Braille better so I wouldn’t make as many errors as I do. So I thought that would help me.

Sharon Howerton Thank you. Vallie wrote in www.maxiaids.com – that’s a terrific resource. M-A-X-I-A-I-D-S.com.

Thank you. www.maxiaids.com. And Joan wrote, “I want to let you all know about www.Yismehu.org. for free Jewish learning Hebrew Braille. It is a great resource to become a full participant in Jewish learning and community life.” Thank you. And Dawn wrote, “There are several products’ websites available through the Hadley resources link on the website. Thank you very much.

Susan Fisher I wanted to mention too that I have a resource for Catholic religious materials and that is the Xavier Society and I forget their website but I use them all the time and I’m sure a lot of different organizations have their specific religious materials available too, but not necessarily music ones.

Sharon Howerton And another website that Vallie wrote in is www.NBP.org, that’s the National Braille Press – www.NBP.org.

Caller There’s another one; I don’t know the actual website but I know it’s Blind Skills and it’s a great newsletter that comes out quarterly, but I’m sorry, I don’t know the website, but Darren may.

Billy Brookshire This is Billy. There was a question came through, Susan and Sharon, related to office hours and how people can sign up for office hours.

Susan Fisher The best thing to do is to send us an email – [email protected], [email protected]. I’m sure it’s [email protected]. So again – this is Susan – my

©2011 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 42 of 49 2011-05-10-Braille Exchange office hours are Tuesdays from 3:30 until 4:15 with the exception of next Tuesday. They will be from 11:00 till 11:45. Sharon, yours?

Sharon Howerton Mine are Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Central Time, Thursday mornings, for people who are just beginning Braille, although I’ve had people who have finished come back too. But basically, it started from my Braille Literacy I and II students. And Patti’s was Monday, 3:00 to 4:00 Central Time.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. And my office hours were originally designed for students in Braille Literacy III and IV but again, we would welcome anyone. Phyllis wrote in www.xaviersocietyfortheblind.org. Thank you, everybody.

John Sharon and Susan, can I have your last name? It would be easier for me to give you a call about the student lounge.

Susan Fisher Absolutely. This is Susan and my last name is Fisher – F-I-S-H-E-R.

Sharon Howerton And this is Sharon Howerton – H-O-W-E-R-T-O-N. But you know what, there’s only one Susan and one Sharon on our staff right now, so they’ll find us. Trust me.

John Thank you. Great seminar, guys, great. Learned a lot.

Susan Fisher Thank you. Another question – “How do you sign up to attend office hours?” Just send Sharon or I an email – or Patti – and we will give you the information for our specific office hours.

Sharon Howerton We need to give you the log-on information. It’s not just any old person can come on the lounge and just be there. That’s why you need to contact us, depending on the area in which you’re interested in.

Billy Brookshire And, folks, this seminar has been absolutely wonderful and we’ve come to the end of another broadcasting day as it happens. I want to give the mic back to Sharon and Susan for just a second in case they want to entertain other questions or have

Sharon Howerton I just think it’s been a lot of fun; it might be something we should think about doing again sometime, but it’s been great. I think it truly has been a Braille Exchange. We all have so much to learn from each other and I thank everyone for their participation.

Susan Fisher This is Susan. A Braille Exchange right now – I’d kind of like to have a cookie or two and do a cookie exchange, but it has been a lot of fun. But like we mentioned before and Karen wrote in, “Don’t forget the pen pals.” That’s true. If you’re interested in a Braille pen pal, contact me. This is Susan – [email protected].

But like we said before, if you’ve enjoyed this, please drop in at any one of our three office hours and you don’t have to be a regular member; you can come once, you can come once a month; you can come whenever you like. But I think you’ll find and what Sharon and I have found is most people who come, come back and come back and come back because this is exactly what we do. So thanks again. Jackie

Thank you, thank you all. We couldn’t have done it without you because it truly was an exchange. We were just kind of here for whatever, but you guys have made it a great hour. Thank you.

John Great job, guys. Congratulations and thank you very much for a great seminar.

Caller Thanks, everyone for your information and ideas. I think this has been a great seminar.

Billy Brookshire And thanks everyone for coming and thanks for directing it so well, Sharon and Susan. It was really as you say, a wonderful exchange. Very well done, everybody. Thanks, everybody, for your good questions, for your good comments. We’re all here to help each other. Let’s face it.

Wanted to remind everybody that this seminar, like all seminars at Hadley is archived on our website and it’s available 24/7/365 so by all means check it out. Go to the archived webinars and you can download them

Related Hadley courses – gosh, I think Sharon and Susan and Patti have mentioned most of these but let me talk about them one more time. In the archives, related things you might want to check out, related seminars – one is called the Braille Literacy Crisis; another Braille Every Day, Every Way and there’s also a course called the Legacy of Louis Braille you might want to check out.

What courses might you want to take in Braille? Well, Hadley offers several. We got Braille Literacy courses I through IV; we’ve got Braille Reading courses I and II; got a course in Nemeth Code and Patti mentioned Using Raised Markers. There’s just a lot of wonderful courses you can take, folks.

Want to thank you again, all of you, for participating today and, boy, you did participate. Loved a lot of the things you had to say. Also want you to know we value your feedback. Let us know what you thought about the seminar today and if you want to suggest future topics, you can do both of those by sending an email to [email protected]. That’s [email protected]. And that’s all I’ve got folks, and any final farewells from Sharon and Susan?

Susan Fisher Hi, this is Susan. With regards to the Braille courses, if you’re interested in the Braille courses, you can contact our Student Services Department. But also, don’t hesitate at all to contact one of us. We would be happy to talk to you at length about any of the courses that you might be interested in.

Sharon Howerton Billy, I wanted to thank you for your moderating and keeping things moving along, although the students do this a lot too. You had mentioned that some of the courses – the Braille Crisis and all of that – those are actually seminars. I think you just used the wrong word, but you got it down. So thank you again. It was awesome. Whole bunch of fun.

Susan Fisher Thank you, Billy. Couldn’t have done it without you. It was awesome, so much fun.

Sharon Howerton Exactly. For sure.

Susan Fisher And thank you everybody else.

Billy Brookshire And thanks everybody for coming. Take care of yourselves. We’ll see you next time. Speaking of next time, Byron Lee, who’s on our call with us today is going to be talking with you about Horizons for the Blind and a wonderful new innovation they’ve come up with called Directions For Me. So tune in next time, folks. Have a great rest of the week and take care of yourselves. Bye-bye.

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