1. Avery’s Building on Patterns (BOP) Guided Tour
Kerry Isham,
Field Services Representative

3. Avery, the APH Ambassador

4. Building on the success of the previous Patterns: Primary Braille Reading Program, Building on Patterns (BOP) is a complete primary literacy program designed to teach beginning braille users to read, write, and spell in braille. The student learns braille code and reading together.

5. Principles of BOP
Teaching braille reading and writing is more powerful (and more appropriate) than teaching the “code” of braille
Joining the reading and writing educational effort encourages academic achievement
Understanding reading and writing in a broad sense brings students in line with their classmates
Maintaining standards for teaching reading supports literacy development

6. Critical Skill Areas
BOP addresses the five critical skill areas that lead to success as identified by the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000):
phonemic awareness
phonics
comprehension
fluency
vocabulary

7. Important Prerequisites
The series also addresses the following areas of development identified as important prerequisites for braille readers:
language development
sound discrimination
tactual discrimination
concept development

8. Prerequisites for Braille Reading Critical Areas for Reading
This chart shows how work on the prerequisites prepare the student to succeed in the critical areas for braille reading:
Prerequisites for Braille Reading
Critical Areas for Reading
Language Development
Vocabulary
Auditory Discrimination
Phonemic Awareness, Phonics
Concept Development
Comprehension
Tactual Discrimination
Fluency
There is a chart with 2 columns and four rows under the columns:
Prerequisites for Braille Reading Critical Areas for Reading
Language Development Vocabulary
Auditory Discrimination Phonemic Awareness, Phonics
Concept Development Comprehension
Tactual Discrimination Fluency

9. To clarify…
- Language development includes the development of a broad vocabulary
- Auditory discrimination & manipulation include phonemic awareness
- Phonics is the study of relationships of sounds (determined through auditory discrimination) to written letters/braille symbols
- Concept development is needed for comprehension
- Well-developed tactual discrimination is needed to read braille with fluency

10. Vocabulary Selection
Vocabulary included in BOP is a combination of the basic vocabulary words that primary readers learn and the braille contractions, shortform words, punctuation, and indicators that are unique to the braille literary code.

11. Braille contractions are introduced from the beginning along with sound and letter associations.

12. Because reading vocabulary and the braille code are taught together, the introduction of the words in BOP differ somewhat from that used with beginning print readers.

13. Selection of the order for introducing vocabulary in BOP is based on research about teaching children to read and about teaching reading with braille.

14. Differences in Braille and Print

15. Differences in Teaching Braille Reading vs Print Reading
Letter combinations – E.g., “sh” and “ch” letter combinations. Because the student learns these as braille contractions, s/he does not need to learn that the sounds made by “c” and “s” are different than the sounds each of these letters make when combined with the letter “h.” The braille contractions for “ch” and “sh” represent different sounds as if they were new alphabet letters.

16. Differences in Teaching Braille Reading vs Print Reading
Discriminations and Associations – In print, the shape of a letter might remind the reader of an object or concept. Additionally, a letter can be presented with certain graphics to assist with learning appropriate associations. In contrast, with braille, the student must make discriminations based on number of dots and density of the braille cell.

17. Differences in Teaching Braille Reading vs Print Reading
Braille Confusers – Since braille characters are limited to 6 dots in a single cell, braille code contains many sources of potential confusion. For example the letters “i” and “e” can become easily confused.

18. Differences in Teaching Braille Reading vs Print Reading
Braille uses punctuation symbols – which are the same size and shape as letters, but positioned in the lower part of the cell - and indicators. Print uses distinct punctuation that does not resemble letters.

19. Language and Literacy Development
BOP builds on the typical order of development:
Receptive language
Sound production
Word production
Expressive language
Phonemic awareness
Alphabetic principle
Reading
Writing
Spelling

20. The Use of Tactile Graphics
For print readers, pictures serve as helpful tools for reading, adding both interest and meaning.
Tactile diagrams will never be as useful for braille readers as pictures are for print readers.

21. The Challenge of Tactile Graphics
The braille reader is not as readily familiar with his or her environment as the sighted student, since objects need to be within the child’s reach for tactual examination. The child may never have encountered the objects shown in the pictures.

22. Helping Young Students Read Tactile Graphics
Have the student “flat scan” the page to determine where the picture is before using fingertips to read the graphic.
Tell the child what is in the picture.
Whenever possible, provide a manipulative representation of the picture.
Talk about the picture’s shape, edges, etc. with the student.
Allow plenty of time for the student to explore the picture.

23. *Sighted readers use pictures to give meaning to words; blind students use words to give meaning to pictures.*

24. Level Scope & Sequence Chart
Lesson
Listening Compre-
hension
Concept Develop-
ment
New Words and New Letter
Braille Know-
ledge
Braille-
writing
Sound and Symbol
Lan-
guage Activity
Lesson 15 We pp
Trying a New Way
Mobility terms: blocks, curbs, sidewalks, corners, streets; Map Reading; Community Helpers
a, ride, a
Spacing words and sentences; Making the capital sign
Writing the word a and the letter a
/a/; a/a/
Word mean-
ing - naming words
There is a sample chart with 8 categories:
Lesson – Lesson 15, , We, pp
Listening Comprehension – Trying a New Way
Concept Development – Mobility Terms: Blocks, curbs, sidewalks, corners, streets, Map reading, Community helpers
New Words and New Letter – a, ride, a
Braille Knowledge – Spacing words and sentences; Making the capital sign
Braille writing – Writing the word a and the letter a
Sound and Symbol – [sounds that “a” makes]
Language Activity – Word meaning – naming words

25. Weekly Sequence Chart
There is a chart called Lesson 4 Weekly Sequence – Not Far From Home, pp Focus of the Week.
Word Work: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Spelling
Day 1 – Phonemic Awareness – Rhyming; short g sound. Phonics – Rhyming and various sounds
Day 2 – Phonics – consonant blends: sl, sp, sw, bl, fl, gl, br, dr, sk. Spelling – New words: not, toss, spot, lock, got, hot, on, black, mom, drop; Oral spelling, Written spelling, Pretest with self-check.
Day 3 – Phonics – Consonant blends; sl, sp, sw, bl, fl, gl, br, dr, sk. Spelling – “My Hot Dog”
Day 4 – Phonics – Consonant blends: sl, sp, sw, bl, fl, gl, br, dr, sk. Spelling – Using the words
Day 5 – Spelling – Lesson 4 Spelling Test
Language: Background Knowledge, Oral Vocabulary and Concept Development, Grammar
Day 1 – Background Knowledge – Talking about games. Grammar – Inflectional ending s; Noun plurals
Day 2 – Blank
Day 3 – Background Knowledge – Conversations
Day 4 – Oral Vocabulary and Concept Development – Recreating and playing the game from the story
Day 5 – Blank
Reading: New Reading Words, Reading and Comprehension, Oral Reading and Fluency
Day 1 – Blank
Day 2 – New Reading Words – game, two, story, read, part, hear, toss, may, are, out, in, win, won
Day 3 – Reading and Comprehension – “A Game for Two”
Day 4 – Reading Comprehension – Finish reading or re-read “A Game for Two”
Day 5 – Oral Reading and Fluency – Re-read “A Game for Two.” New Reading Words – Word Race Game
Writing: Creative Writing, Writing Grammar
Day 1 – Creative Writing Planning. Writing Grammar – Writing plurals
Day 2 – Creative Writing – First Draft. Writing Grammar – Writing Sentences with consonant blends.
Day 3 – Creative Writing – Editing
Day 4 – Creative Writing – Publishing
Day 5 – Creative Writing – Share Article

26. BOP Assessment
Each lesson in BOP has a “check-up” to be used as an informal assessment.
Check-ups provide test-taking practice as well as feedback on the particular lesson.
Forms are provided to assist in any areas for which remediation is needed.
A cumulative form tracks progress for all the check-ups in the given program level.

27. Your BOP experience is just beginning!

28. Kerry Isham, Field Services - kisham@aph.org
Want to know more? Contact us! The American Printing House for the Blind, Inc Frankfort Avenue Louisville, Kentucky U.S.A. Web site:
Kerry Isham, Field Services -