At BLENNZ Palmerston North, we have ten students who either are, or will be braille readers. One of these students is Maraea. For the last year, Maraea has worked with her RTV, Amanda, on topic based units to broaden her concept knowledge. So far, these topics have included plants, shopping, Christmas, the beach birds and music.
Central to these units are lots of hands-on, real-life, culturally-rich experiences. Through these, Maraea is developing an understanding of how the world works. Knowledge is being built from actual encounters rather than just something she has heard or read about. New information can be related to her personal experiences.
Maraea’s literacy program is fully enshrined in the topics of study. All reading and writing is topic based, and her stories, along with photos and tactile pictures are combined into a ‘twin-vision’ (braille and print) book for her to share with her kura and whānau.
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