[nfbwatlk] Children Love Braille

[kris Lawrence]

Hi Everyone,

Well, believe it or not, I have been fairly busy since getting back from 
National Convention. Starting on July 18, I have been going to Riley's 
Child Development Center and talking to the school age kids about 
blindness and Braille. While I use the basic Braille is Beautiful 
information and supplies, I have been putting my own twist on the 
sessions with these kids. They range from Kindergarten to 5th grade. So 
it is a bit of a challenge to keep everyone involved.

I started out with bringing a fellow chapter member, Marty Cartwright 
and her guide dog Kerstin, with me to the school. We talked about using 
a guide dog, rules and courtesy and answered a lot of fun questions. 
Since then, I have shown the "Jake and the Secret Code" movie, brought 
some twin vision books, written names in Braille, talked about blindness 
in general and played a few games using the Braille Boxes. We will 
hopefully be working with slate and stylus next week and my goal is for 
them to understand the basic grade 1 Braille by the end of the summer. I 
am surprised by their interest and how quickly some of the older kids 
are picking up writing Braille. I even gave the school their own supply 
of kernel books. The kids are reading them and asking questions.

Now, I am in a bit of a quandary. I was asked today how much I charge 
for these "lessons". While I won't get a paycheck, the "fee" will go 
towards Riley's tuition. I have been out of the loop for so long, I have 
no clue. I do this because I like to educate the kids. I do this because 
they are having a blast and hopefully they will not fall into believing 
some of those awful stereotypes. But has anyone else "charged" for this 
type of thing?

Thanks,
Kris