Accessible Test

Revision of Patterns:

The Primary Braille Reading Program

Building on Patterns: Kindergarten and First Grade Levels

(Continuing Series)

Purpose

To revise and update Patterns: The Primary Braille Reading Program

Project Staff

Eleanor Pester, Project Leader

Deanna Scoggins, Consultant/Writer

Terri Gilmore, Graphic Designer

Rosanne Hoffmann, Research/Project Assistant

Carol Roderick, Research/Project Assistant

Elaine Kitchel, Low Vision Project Leader/Writer

Monica Vaught, Research/Project Assistant

Jeanette Wicker, Core Curriculum Project Leader

Suzette Wright, Emergent Literacy Project Leader

Background

Patterns: The Primary Braille Reading Program was designed to teach reading to children who would use braille as their primary reading medium. It was built on strong reading and braille principles and has remained an effective learning tool since its debut in 1980. In education, where textbooks over 5 years old are considered outdated, Patterns is now ancient history. Times have changed, and for some years full inclusion has been in vogue, and reading has been taught first with a whole language focus and then with phonics playing a major role. More recently the emphasis has been on phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, and development of oral vocabulary. With this being the case, some teachers are having a difficult time justifying the use of a program the age of Patterns. Young braille readers, however, still need a firm foundation for beginning braille reading upon which to build. It is the goal of this project to produce an updated and enhanced braille reading program for beginners by building on the successes and philosophy of Patterns.

In September 1997, the project advisory committee met at APH to discuss revision of Patterns: The Primary Braille Reading Program. Decisions were made regarding features that should be kept, features that should be changed, ways to update the content, and topics that would be of interest to today’s visually impaired children. The committee discussed current trends in reading for the general population, some new programs, and methods for teaching reading and language arts, and the use of tactile graphics with young children.
In 1998, a detailed timeline and budget were developed for this project. Work on a revised prototype of the early levels of the program began. An extensive bibliography on the latest literature related to braille reading was compiled and reviewed by project personnel. Current reading programs and methods were also reviewed.
In 1999, the basic prototype for the kindergarten level of the Patterns revision was developed, and ideas for possible supplementary phonics and character development tapes, games, and books were explored.
In 2000, changes were made in the kindergarten level based on conference sessions, reviews of research, and project advisory committee recommendations. Work began on the 1st grade level of the program. New approaches to teaching reading continued to be investigated.
In 2001, work continued on the kindergarten and 1st grade levels of the program. A draft of the kindergarten level was completed and turned over to APH by the textbook writer.
In 2002, work continued on the preparation of the kindergarten level for field testing and on the development of the 1st and 2nd grade levels. It was decided to talk about a child rather than children in the text since the majority of braille readers are educated in public rather than in residential schools and are likely to be working on braille reading individually rather than in a group. The kindergarten lessons were edited to reflect this change.
In 2003, introductory lessons for the kindergarten level were written and the decision was made to teach braillewriting of the letter words and letters at the same time as the letter words, letters, and sounds are taught in reading rather than waiting until the students can read ten words or so to start writing. Efforts were also made to clear the project leader’s schedule so that more time could be devoted to this project. Meanwhile the textbook writer continued work on the text and teacher’s guide for the 1^st grade.
In 2004, content editing of the kindergarten level was completed. This included adding a teacher’s note on using the braillewriter versus the slate and stylus to introduce braillewriting and adding allergy alerts when food is used as part of a lesson. The mechanics of braillewriting were taught early to allow the child to be as independent as possible as early as possible. A checklist for the mechanics of braillewriting was provided to help the teacher track the child’s progress and identify where the child still needs help. Some selections written especially for the original Patterns were edited to relate better to kindergarteners and to emphasize concept development for a visually impaired child. Meetings were held with the graphic designer to discuss graphics needed and work out designs for covers. Several meetings were also held to talk about production. Work continued on the 1^st grade level which included the development of original stories and activities for the lessons and additional planning on selections and phonics and vocabulary to be included. During the summer, the project leader held a working meeting with six teachers of primary visually impaired children and the textbook writer. This group discussed state assessment standards and drafted test and remediation materials for the kindergarten and first grade levels of the revised program.
In 2005, additions were made to the kindergarten level for presenting the tactual graphics on the covers and those used in the introductions of the color words to children who are blind and have limited concept development and usually do not automatically recognize two dimensional representations of three dimensional objects. These textbook introductions were also used along with the titles to begin working on the skill of forecasting. Forms were created for recording the progress on the work covered in each textbook. For field testing, the eight textbooks were then produced in braille and the Teacher’s Edition, Posttest Manual, and Assessment Forms were produced in both print and braille. Sample print lessons were laid out two different ways with icons and formatting for field testing. Using the items written by the Teachers of the Visually Impaired last summer, the Kindergarten Posttest was put together. Several evaluation forms were developed for the field testing and expert review.
In 2006, field testing was conducted. Results were reviewed as they came in and then pulled together in a more complete report. Revisions included additional worksheets, suggestions for read-aloud books at the end of each lesson, and the correction of copy errors. A general introduction to the program, a specific introduction for the kindergarten level, and an introduction for the posttest were written. Acknowledgements, references, a table of contents, a scope and sequence chart for the level, several appendices, and an index of skills were added. Copyright permissions were secured where they were needed and replacement selections were found and lessons rewritten when permissions were unable to be secured. Such selections were often ones that evaluators had recommended changing anyway. A number of new books and research articles were reviewed during the writing of the introduction and are very helpful as the 1^st grade level is developed. A group of teachers of the visually impaired from Ohio is helping with the development of some of the stories.
The kindergarten level of Building on Patterns (BOP) became available for purchase in November of 2006. In 2007, development of the lessons for 1^st grade continued. When a draft of the 1^st grade lessons was about half done, two experts reviewed the lessons. Possible cover art and titles for the proposed seven units for the level were discussed with one of the experts and our graphic artists. The other expert felt that too many things were being taught in each lesson. The project leader worked with this expert/consultant on reordering the phonics and the language activities, spreading them out over the lessons for the year, and teaching them in a more systematic way. A few of the reading selections were also reordered to better fit the phonics and language being taught. This consultant cut and pasted the lessons that were done to conform to the new plan, filled in new activities when they were needed, and edited the reading selections and the spelling activities accordingly. The project leader continued on with work on additional reading selections, comprehension questions, oral reading and fluency activities, and vocabulary and concept development activities. In May, the project leader and the other expert who had reviewed the lessons co-hosted a meeting with the head of the Ohio teacher group and two of the teachers from the 2004 Summer Group, one from California and one from Oregon. The expert proposed reordering each lesson into a 5-day schedule and supplementing it with additional tactile graphics and other supplementary activities. Following the meeting, each of the three participants from Ohio, California, and Oregon formed teams of teachers of visually impaired students to work on this.
In 2008, work continued on the 1^st grade lessons with the project leader and the local consultant developing lesson drafts and sending them to the teacher writing teams from Ohio, California, and Oregon to reorder the lessons into 5-day sequences and supplement them with additional tactile graphics, creative writing, and other supplemental activities. The project leader worked with the teams and edited the lessons coming back from them to maintain consistency, checked print layout copy being prepared for field testing, and answered questions from the Braille transcriber. In May, a new writing team of three teachers of visually impaired students in Arkansas was trained to reorder and supplement lessons by a team leader from California and the expert whose idea it was to reorder and supplement the lessons. In June, members of the teacher writing teams and other consultants met at APH and discussed questions the groups had about the development of the remainder of the lessons for Building on Patterns Grade 1 (BOP-1) to include the reading selections and all remaining parts of the lessons yet to be done. Preliminary planning for the development of BOP Grade 2 (BOP-2) was also begun. In September, the first two units of BOP-1 with all accompanying materials and appropriate evaluation forms were sent to field testers and expert reviewers.
Work during FY 2009

The evaluation of BOP-1 Units 1 and 2 was completed, and prototypes of Units 3 and 4 were distributed with appropriate evaluation forms. Data from these units were analyzed, and appropriate revisions to the units were made and proofread before they were laid out in print and transcribed into braille for production. Revisions included better relating the titles and cover designs of the units to the reading selections; designing a lesson assessment form to better meet teacher needs; having a consultant design a scope and sequence of skills presented at this level for creative writing and apply it to the lessons to create more of a progression of skills; making a careful check of Dolch words incorporated into the lessons; adding Passage Miscue Assessments and ECC skills to these units; replacing the reading selection in the Unit 4 with one that seemed less confusing; checking on the quality of the braille dots in the student material; changing the title of Unit 2 from “Away from Home” to “Going and Doing” to make it more distinct from the Unit 1 title, “Not Far From Home”; putting in additional sidebar information in the Teacher’s Edition; and finally, correcting other more minor errors brought to our attention. Drafts of lessons for Units 5, 6, and 7 were received from the writing teams, revised as needed and finalized, and prepared for evaluation. The Scope and Sequence Chart for BOP-1 was completed. Beginning reading books available in braille for the students to read were identified for Units 5, 6, and 7. As this year ends, the evaluation of Units 5 and 6 is in progress and Unit 7 is being prepared for evaluation. BOP-1 Unit 1 has been available for purchase as of September 2009. It is expected that Unit 2 will be available in October; Unit 3, in November; Unit 4, in December, and so forth.

Development of BOP-2 is also well under way. Regular conference calls to plan BOP-2 with the heads of the writing teams began in April and are continuing. In June, all available members of the writing teams met at APH for further planning, and team members were put on Google Docs so that lessons can be shared and critiqued in progress. A BOP-2 Scope and Sequence Chart outlining Phonics and Syllabication, Spelling Words, Language Topics, and Braille Contractions to be introduced lesson by lesson has been put together. Changes to the Lesson Overview and the 5-Day Sequence for BOP-1 to be done in BOP-2 and Guidelines for Writing the Lessons have been prepared. Writing teams have decided upon unit themes, been assigned to various units, and have created sample lessons. Guidelines for unit assessments has been put together by the project leader and the local consultant and has been discussed with the expert on assessment, and will be turned over to the writing teams before the end of the year.
Work planned for FY 2010

Evaluation of BOP-1 Units 5-7 will be completed and the results will be analyzed and used to make revisions. These units will be prepared for production, laid out in print, transcribed into braille, and produced for purchase. The BOP-1 Posttest will be completed and sent out for review. BOP-2 lessons will be developed, reviewed, edited as needed, prepared for review, evaluated, results analyzed, revisions made as indicated, and copy prepared for production. At the present time, drafts of the first units are expected to be completed around Thanksgiving 2009.