skip to contentHOME | PRODUCTS | LOUIS | SHOP | MUSEUM | ADVISORY | RESEARCH | HELP | SEARCH


ATIC: Accessible Textbook Initiative and Collaboration Project BANA: Braille Authority of North America

Promising Practices for Transcribing Early Literacy Textbooks
Kindergarten, First, Second, and Third Grades

DRAFT: May 2006

This is a draft document developed with members of the BANA Early Materials Production Committee and an APH focus group, assigned the task of writing guidelines to transcribe early literacy textbooks. Focus group participants were transcribers, teachers of the visually impaired, reading specialists, and literacy experts. These practices will serve as a testing ground for the proposed BANA Guidelines for Transcription of Early Literacy Materials.

Each transcriber connected with an agency should check with their agency to ascertain permission to apply these practices. We would encourage agencies to approve the use of these practices to enable a broader testing field.

For up to date revisions of these practices visit the ATIC web page by going to www.aph.org. Click the ATIC banner and you will find the title Promising Practices for Transcription of Textbooks for Kindergarten, First, Second, and Third Grade listed.

Questions or suggestions should be submitted to Jane Thompson at atic@aph.org and/or Betsy Burnham at bburnham9@comcast.com. Please type Early Literacy in subject line.

The following must appear on the Transcriber's Note Page in each braille volume:

This volume has been transcribed according to the provisional guidelines for Transcribing Early Literacy Materials (February 2006) set forth by the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) and the American Printing House for the Blind (APH).

An ink-print copy of the special symbols and transcriber's note page will be included with each volume in a section titled Teacher Reference Materials. This section contains a Special Symbols Page and a Transcriber's Note page. The Transcriber's Note page of this section will be an ink-print copy of the braille Transcriber's Note page with the addition of all of the transcriber's notes (tns) found in that volume. The print page number on which a tn appears will be listed followed by the actual tn.

Underlying Principles to Consider When Transcribing Early Literacy Materials

Transcribers must always consider that students who are blind or visually impaired gather information differently than the sighted students for whom the book was designed.

It is essential that a transcriber acknowledge that young children with normal vision gain knowledge and learn many things incidentally: i.e. by means of watching others and then mimicking the movements or activities they have observed. The child with a visual impairment may need direct teaching for those activities. The world of the child for whom we transcribe is experienced through direct touch, sound and/or smell and the formatting decisions the transcriber makes should reflect the learning style of the reader.

Tactile Graphics

Early literacy texts are very visual in nature. The transcriber must constantly ask himself/herself why a picture or graphic is present on a print page. The interpretation and reading of a tactile graphic is a skill that must be taught to a braille reader. Students in grades K-3 are developing skills to read tactile graphics and may need assistance in interpreting the information being presented, depending on the complexity of the tactile graphic. Descriptions of graphics are very limited by the reading level of the book. At each elevation of grade level there can be fewer limitations. It is a very difficult task deciding which graphics to include, at the lower grade levels.

The student must be introduced to tactile representation, but this must be done with assistance and in a progression from very basic to more complex. Further research and study are needed in this area in order to help establish the acceptable degree of complexity at a specific grade level.

In the interim, the Early Literacy Materials Production committee (ELMP) has determined the omission of tactile graphics that require the student to name the object depicted in a picture or drawing is necessary. Very basic shapes can be depicted in a tactile graphic for grades K-1 and more complex grids and even maps can be included by grade 3. The transcriber's note "Ask" or "Ask your teacher for help" is included before each graphic, as the student may need assistance to understand either the graphic or its purpose. We do not want to give the classroom teacher the impression that the student will understand what a tactile graphic represents, without assistance.

Emphasis or Typeface Indicators

The inclusion of emphasis symbols (italics, bold, underlining) is still under research. It is particularly important when first learning to read that the shape or "look" of a word remain consistent. To precede a word with a braille emphasis indicator changes the "shape" of the word, making the word less familiar and recognizable.

Until further research is completed, and a final recommendation made, the committee has given a gradual introduction of these symbols by grade level. When such symbols are used they need to be included on the Special Symbols page. The teacher must, teach the symbols themselves and relay what italicized, bold-faced type and underscoring are, or mean, when found within text.

Teacher's Reference Materials

One of the more unique features suggested in this document is the inclusion of Teacher's Reference Materials. These are ink-print pages that contain information found on the Special Symbols and Transcriber's Note pages of the braille volume. A listing by print page number of each instance of the transcriber's notes "Ask" or "Ask your teacher for assistance" is given with the reason for that note: ie. activity omitted-verbal description needed; graphic omitted-model or verbal description needed; or graphic included-assistance may be needed, is included. The purpose of this information is to allow the VI teacher to plan the instruction of a special symbol, the preparation of an alternate activity or verbal description, the gathering of models that may be needed, or when his or her presence is necessary for assistance.

The ELMP committee obviously cannot supply examples of every format or activity that a transcriber may come upon. However, we do feel that with the examples and guidelines given and the consideration of the underlying principles, better decisions can be made by transcribers.

BANA Ad-Hoc Committee for Early Literacy Materials Production Members:

The accompanying print examples are referred to within the text. Download the examples in PDF format

Physical Page Attributes:

Formatting:

Follow rules set forth in Braille Formats: Principles of Print to Braille Transcription, unless specified below.

There are to be no transcriber's notes in kindergarten books except the following, which is to be placed at the left margin.

Kindergarten (at left margin):

In braille: ,',ask4,'

The transcriber's note is expanded for grades 1-2 and is placed in cells 7 with runovers in cell 5.

First -Second Grades (begin in cell 7, runovers in cell 5 [7/5]):

In braille: ,',ask yr t1*] = help4,'

In third grade the reason for the need for help may be added, this would also include a key for a graphic. The reasons must be written in the same language and grade level as the textbook itself.

Third Grade

In braille: ,',ask yr t1*] = help4 ,! activ;y is omitt$ or a tactile graphic foll[s4,'



APH logo

©2006, American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.