braille books

[globetrotterinvietnam]

Does anyone know where to find books in braille? I've tried the RNIB website and all I can find are books on tape. I would like to buy some for the children in Vietnam. Any ideas??

Thanks in advance.

www.braillebookstore.com/view.php?C=Books+for+Children

is an American web shop, has some good info on the "types" of brialle they use so you could check your kids can read that type.... Havn't found a Uk store that has such a good list...or indeed any kids list at all. I may just need to serch harder :-)

You can probably get some secondhand for free - many for young children are custom made and then get passed on to other parents - try putting up a request on a suitable forum like the RNIB parents pages or somewhere VI teachers hang out (QTVIs), they might have some teaching resources going spare too. I imagine that it would also be worth trying blind schools for old library stock. Failing that, try contacting the National Blind Children's Society (NBCS) www.nbcs.org.uk/ they'd be able to give you some advice about the best places to get them, they also make large print books which could also be worth having?

Postage for articles for the blind is free within the UK, if that's helpful.

Braille is in two grades, grade 1 and grade 2. Grade 1 is for younger children and learners and it's just the letters of the words spelled out in the Braille alphbet, with a few little twists for punctuation etc. Grade 2 Braille you might want to avoid as it's fairly complex as it's full of abbreviations like textspeak but worse - you'd only find it in books for older children and adults (maybe over about 8 years, and certianly not all of them).

I had a couple more thoughts. Not Braille but the Usbourne Touchy Feely books (That's not my...) are great for blind preschoolers - they help make the link between touching pages and stories and are very widely avaiable.

I don't know what kind of budget you were thinking of, but if you could get hold of a Perkins Brailler (about 200 quid normally, but occasional bargains on eBay and I've seen one on Freecycle), you could bash out as much Grade 1 Braille as you want. Young children normally start with big braille, but normal size is not impossible.

Thank you so much. I have been making somematerials with my slate and stylus, but it takese ages...

What is it you're doing Globetrotter? It sounds really interesting. If you want tips on teaching Braille, then the yahoo group PVIC is a good resource groups.yahoo.com/group/PVIC/ - better than the international parents forums - as there are several Britich parents there who are teaching their kids Braille and campaigning for more children to be taught Braille (increasingly common as Braille teaching here is falling out of fashion amongst professionals, because relying on new technology is believed to be a better choice for increasing numbers of children, but quite a few parents don't agree), they also have a few blind teachers, all of whom would be able to give you tips.