Accessible Test

FirstTouch Books

(New)
Purpose

To develop books, needed by students 0 to 3 years of age, that provide meaningful literacy experiences for emergent braille readers (including emergent braille-print readers and children whose future reading media is unknown).

Project staff

Suzette Wright, Project Leader

Wendy Sapp, Ph.D., COMS, Project Consultant

Dana Fox, M.A., Project Consultant

Background

Children take their first steps toward learning to read and write early in life. Reading aloud to a child, from infancy onward, has been cited as a key contributor to later success in learning to read. Early, positive experiences with books help motivate children to become readers. Important oral language skills and vocabulary are built as the adult reader and young child share a book and talk about its words, illustrations, and relate these to the child’s own experiences. Early experiences with books provide opportunities to encounter written words and to learn book-handling skills. Young children who will read braille, however, face a limited selection of books in braille, particularly print/braille books that a typically sighted adult can easily read aloud. Even fewer books contain well-designed tactile illustrations, capable of adding interest and meaning to the words of a story for a child who cannot access print pictures. APH and other braille publishers have worked to widen the availability of print/braille books. APH’s On the Way to Literacy books for children, ages 3 to 5 years, and the Moving Ahead Tactile Graphic Storybooks for ages 4 to 6 offer print/braille texts and tactile illustrations designed to support the text and introduce children to a range of types of tactile displays. Given the importance of books for young children who will read braille, APH continues to make strong efforts to poll the field to determine current needs and to seek help in prioritizing these needs. In an online survey in 2004, 140 of 156 respondents ranked very simple, early books for birth to three as a high need. This need was also noted by a 2004 focus group, and was again expressed in December of 2007, by two focus groups held at the Getting in Touch with Literacy conference.

Work completed in FY 2009

Project leader time became available in 2009 to better define the objectives of books for children in this youngest age group and to initiate projects to meet those needs. The project leader examined current offerings of braille producers to determine what was already available in print/braille for children from birth to age 3. She searched commercially available books for this age group to identify titles that might be adapted to meet the needs of a young blind child. The emphasis was on selecting books with high quality language, highly recommended classics and best selling books that would lend themselves to the addition of simple tactile, interactive, or other multisensory components. Hundreds of books found through a wide variety of sources were considered, including: American Library Association (ALA) recommendations; Database of Award-winning Children’s Literature (DAWCL); International Reading Association (IRA) Choices Awards; The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books; The Horn Book Guide Online; New York Times Bestsellers List; Amazon reviews; Barnes & Noble (store and online offerings). The project leader sketched a variety of types of tactile interactive components, such as die-cut shapes, flaps that open/close, pieces that rotated or moved, things that could be threaded in/out, things to be shaped or bent, as well as textures, objects and sound or noise-making elements. Preliminary sketches were reviewed by in-house staff regarding their feasibility for mass production.

All of the information gathered by the project leader was given to two consultants, chosen to advise the project leader regarding the project’s direction. Both had combined experience with teaching and research in the area of emergent literacy for children with visual impairments. They were asked to review input received from focus groups, further define the objectives for books needed by children 0 to 3 years of age, and to examine commercially available books located by the project leader, analyzing their potential for adaptation. In addition, the project leader supplied rough sketches showing the ideas for tactile interactive components. The consultants were also encouraged to recommend other books, either commercially available books they considered to be candidates for adaptation, or ideas for original books they or others had developed for this age group.
The consultants recommended APH develop three types of books to meet the identified need: Adaptations of high quality commercially available books with tactile components developed by APH to ensure their meaningfulness for a young blind child; APH-created books with original tactile, interactive components based on simple, well-written original texts; a blank book kit and guidebook to encourage/facilitate the creation of individualized books with tactiles from the child’s own environment. Consultants indicated books should be kept small, preferably no more than 7.5” x 7.5” and be constructed of sturdy board stock.
As a next step, the project leader and consultants worked to identify high-quality, commercially available books that could be to be adapted in a meaningful way by adding tactile, interactive, or other multisensory components. After examining well over 2000 books, the combined efforts of the project leader and consultants to locate a book they considered to be excellent for adaptation for children birth to 3 years were not successful. Although interesting tactile components could have been added to many of the books, we were unable to find high quality books that lent themselves to the addition of meaningful tactile components for this very young group of children. Books suited for tactile adaptation for older children were discovered and may be developed in the future as an On the Way to Literacy or Moving Ahead Storybook. The project leader will continue to monitor commercially available books for a suitable title for the birth to 3 years age group. Project consultants suggested APH explore development of an APH-created book, as some of the sketches for tactile components supplied by the project leader appeared they could be meaningfully and effectively used with a young blind child. Texts might be developed based on these.
(To meet the need for a blank book kit, also recommended by past focus groups, a second, separate project was proposed. For further information, see the report written for Tactile Book Builder.)
The idea for FirstTouch Books for children from birth to 3 years of age was next submitted to APH’s in-house product evaluation and approval process. It was proposed that books be developed one at a time; the series would eventually include adaptations of commercially available books, as suitable ones were discovered, as well as original books. The proposed project received the approval of the Product Evaluation Team (PET) and Product Review and Advisory Committee (PARC) and was removed from the “parking lot” in April 2009. In June, the first Product Development Committee brainstorming meeting was held. A number of good ideas regarding book construction were received. The project leader continued by searching for ideas for original texts and tactile components in files from past projects. She encouraged individuals, including both parents and teachers, to submit ideas and original drafts. As a result, four promising drafts and sketches or descriptions of accompanying tactile, interactive components were obtained. These were submitted to the project consultant for a detailed review, including a rating of each draft and ranking of their suitability for the target audience. Two drafts were rated “excellent” as candidates for further development. The draft which was ranked first has been roughly laid out in electronic form by the project leader, including dimensions, materials and tactile as well as visual illustrations. This file has been sent to several current and past consultants for a preliminary, informal review. It is presently being examined by in-house staff in regards to production methods which might be used.
Work planned for FY 2010

The project leader will evaluate input from the preliminary, informal review and from in-house discussion concerning production methods and costs. If this information is favorable, a final design will be established and prototypes will be made. Prototypes will be sent out for field review based on teachers’ and parents’ observations through extended use with children in the target audience.