It was great to meet all of you who attended Jump Start and I wish I could have met those of you who did not. I have put together a list of items to remember when including individuals with blindness, visual impairments, and physical disabilities in your summer reading programs.
- Avoid grouping all individuals with disabilities into a single group - try to vary your activities and reading to include everyone.
- Try to use activities that would enhance reading and would be enjoyable to all.
- Use sound and smell when possible and do not allow activities that could be dangerous if handled by someone without vision — stick to soft objects, no sharp corners, etc. If this is unavoidable, be sure to offer assistance when necessary.
- The Braille & Talking Book Program of the South Dakota State Library has several services available for making your summer reading program accessible:
- Audio books and magazines in both cassette and digital cartridge format. The books are word-for-word as the print text and recorded by professionals and volunteers. The collection includes both fiction and nonfiction.
- NEW digital audio book player that come with audio instructions for use built into the player itself. Pressing any button will provide information about what that button does.
- Online catalog from which patrons may download books to their own flash-drive from BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download).
- Braille books either in paper or digital form from a Web-Braille service. We do have a collection of print/braille which are picture books rebound with braille text pages interleaved between the print pages. Print/braille books are also known as twin vision books.
- Descriptive Videos are movies that carry special narration between the dialogues to describe the action for visually impaired viewers.
If services are requested through the Braille & Talking Book Program, each individual needing service must submit a completed application which is available from our the website
Educational Materials Coordinator
Children's Program (One World, Many Stories) theme art by Rafael López. Young Adult Program (You Are Here) theme art by Svetlana Chmakova.
2011 Collaborative Summer Library Program, www.cslpreads.org
More CE Events
Schedule and Locations
Feb. 22: Pierre
Feb. 23: Huron
Feb. 24: Brookings
Feb. 25: Vermillion
Apr. 1: Spearfish