Braille Tales Brings Families Together and Broadens Access to Literacy
Early reading develops braille awareness skills and enthusiasm for literacy in the hearts of young children. Through the Braille Tales program, APH offers free print/braille books for children who are blind or low vision.
Born completely blind, Brielle Buzzard was diagnosed with Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis at 8 months old. Brielle didn’t know it, but she already had a library of Braille Tales books waiting for her at home. Her mother Tiffany, now an APH Advisory Board Committee Member, had been collecting them since her diagnosis. Her eldest and firstborn child, Brielle was the ‘first blind person she [Tiffany] had ever met.’ She committed herself to research, actively searching for resources, and learning alongside Brielle as she grew, to help support her daughter and their family. “I knew I had a lot to learn,” says Tiffany. “Like most parents of blind or low vision children, I quickly became not only a mother, but also a teacher, therapist, researcher, advocate, and so much more.”
Knowing Brielle was going to be a braille reader since she didn’t have any usable vision, Tiffany signed her daughter up for the program when she was just an infant. Her initial motivation was the opportunity for early exposure. She recalls the little bookshelf they built low so that Brielle could ‘find’ the books by rubbing her hands from side-to-side across the braille, and her baby hands as they reached out and felt the braille as she happened to run her fingers across the page. “That’s the braille! You’re feeling the braille bumps!” Tiffany would shout, overcome with emotion as Brielle touched what would be for her, access to literacy.
What is Braille Tales? The Braille Tales program provides six free print/braille books a year to blind or low vision children until the child’s 6th birthday, as well as to blind or low vision parents of children under six years old. Partnering with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL), which offers free books to children from birth to age five in five countries, six of the DPIL books are chosen each year to be APH’s Braille Tales books. Braille labels are added to each book, bringing the whole family together by allowing them to read in braille or print.
When asked how Braille Tales has impacted their lives over the years, Tiffany remembers how hard it was not having the luxury of going to the public library to get books for her child. With no easy access to braille books, she would sometimes have to sort through a ‘horrendously’ long catalog first. One of Brielle’s favorite memories was getting the books in the mail each year. “Getting that big box in the mail, gave Brielle something to look forward to,” says Tiffany. Brielle said she “Loved getting the packages in the mail and opening them.”
“Having access to braille books was life changing,” says Tiffany. “Braille books are expensive. They aren’t as cheap as buying books from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Braille Tales books are FREE.” While she says they would still occasionally get free books in the mail, Braille Tales stood out because they were in both print and braille and they catered to the age group they were serving. “We were able to use and enjoy those books, right when we got them,” Tiffany says. Some of Brielle’s favorites were the books that had textures on them. “The ‘Touch-N-Feel’ books,” says Tiffany. “They were interactive for her, especially since she wasn’t seeing pictures.”
Normalizing braille for their family, Tiffany says the Braille Tales program gave them something that allowed them to connect and interact with each other. “Braille was just going to be a part of our life,” she says. “Braille Tales gave us the ability to embrace that.” Braille Tales has fostered a joy for reading in Brielle that carries over to today. “Having Braille Tales books at home gave Brielle an opportunity when she was learning to read−even giving her the opportunity of reading to her little brother when he was a baby.”
Brielle is now ten years old and in the fourth grade. She loves music, plays the piano, drums, ukelele, and sings. She has a Canine Buddy, ‘Lambo,’ from Guide Dogs for the Blind. Like any other ten-year-old, Brielle likes to get together with her friends and go to the park or beach. “She’s just like any other 10-year-old girl,” Tiffany says. “We tried to make it that way.”
Interested in receiving your own Braille Tales books? Fill out our Braille Tales Application form to apply today!