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NFB Bell Curriculum
This great resource in Spanish has lessons and curricula ready for use in orientation and mobility, Braille, daily living skills, and more. You can access this free resource by signing up here for the NFB Bell Curriculum. Let us know how you use the resource!
High School Checklist for College Readiness
We want to let you know about Perkins’s College Success resource in Spanish: High School Checklist.
Blind children have many skills that they must learn and as teachers or parents, it is difficult to know which skills should be given priority. This great resource divides the skills by:
1. Self-advocacy skills
2. Technological skills
3. Orientation and mobility skills
4. Academic skills
5. Executive functioning skills
6. Independent living skills
7. Residential living skills
8. Vocational skills
9. Social and emotional skills
It can be used with students who are not going to college and with adults in rehabilitation programs. To receive the free resource, follow the button below and fill out the form.
Virtual Talks
You can find all our past webinars in Spanish on our YouTube page. This year, we are planning more live webinars in Spanish. If you have an idea for a topic you would like to know more about, please get in touch with us.
AN ARRAY OF RESOURCES
Learn Braille in Spanish. Watch our videos in Spanish to learn Braille.
Letters A-E
Letters F-J
Letters K-T
Letters U-Z
SOURCES OF FREE BRAILLE BOOKS
Check out these sources of FREE hard-copy braille books!
Free Braille Books to Keep
Braille Institute’s Special Collection
Blind/low vision children in the U.S. and Canada may order up to 2 Dots for Tots® kits two times per year (targeted at ages 2-5, but open to all—might be great books to read to younger family members, neighbors, etc.).
Free Braille Books Program from the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults (Braille books)
Hard copy Braille books. Remaining 2024 books include:
- July: Would You Rather Game Book – Travel Edition by Archie Brain
- August: Magnificent Makers #5: Race Through Space by Theanne Griffith
- September: Magnificent Makers #6: Storm Chasers by Theanne Griffith
- October: Magnificent Makers #7: Human Body Adventure by Theanne Griffith
- November: Magnificent Makers #8: Go Go Green Energy by Theanne Griffith
- December: The 100 Best Brain Teasers for Kids: A Mind-Blowing Challenge of Wordplay, Math, and Logic Puzzles by Danielle Hall
Seedlings Book Angel Program for Children with Vision Loss (3 free books a year) (Braille books)
Through this program, blind/low vision U.S. children ages birth through 21 may order up to FIVE (5) free Braille books per year. Please note that this is limited to books with only one or two volumes, and all Seedlings books use Unified English Braille (UEB) except for the EBAE category (noted below). Check out these great categories of Braille books available:
- Print-Braille-and-Picture Books in Uncontracted Braille (62 titles available)
- Print-Braille-and-Picture Books in Contracted Braille (102 titles available)
- Print-and-Braille Books in Uncontracted Braille (46 titles available)
- No pictures, but the Uncontracted Braille and print words are matched line for line to assist in the learning process.
- Print-and-Braille Books in Contracted Braille (100 titles available)
- No pictures, but the Contracted Braille and print words are matched line for line to assist in the learning process.
- Contracted Braille (“braille only” – no print or pictures) (553 titles available)
- Contracted Braille Books in EBAE (262 titles available)
ShareBraille
From the ShareBraille.org website: “ShareBraille.org works by connecting those who want Braille books with those who want to give Braille books away. After you register and log in, you can share your own Braille books or browse our growing catalog. If a user requests a book that you’ve offered to share, it can be shipped at no cost within the United States and Canada using Free Matter for the Blind.”
Temple Beth El Braille Book Bindery
Individuals may choose from many Braille books in either contracted or uncontracted Braille. The volunteers of Temple Beth El Sisterhood provide these books at no cost, but they welcome donations of Braille paper, Braille binding supplies, and money to support this mission. Please also note these limitations: “Limit of 8 titles per order. Orders may take up to 4-6 weeks. Multi-volume books may take an extended period of time to produce. Due to postal regulations, we can only fulfill orders within the United States.”
Check out Temple Beth El’s Book list web page, where you’ll find many choices:
Contracted Braille (titles available in both UEB and EBAE) at the following grade levels:
- K-1
- 2-3
- 4-5
- 6-8
Uncontracted Braille (all UEB; some titles available in either single-spaced or double-spaced Braille)
- Beginner Readers with Print
- Storybooks with Print
- 4-5
- K-1
- 2-3
- 6-8
Free Braille Books on Loan
Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD) branch of the National Library Service (NLS)
Choose from thousands of Braille book titles and over 30 magazines in Braille and electronic Braille formats. Books & magazines can be mailed or downloaded for FREE.
If you are not yet registered as a Library patron, you can complete an English LBPD application or a Spanish LBPD application and email it to the LBPD at [email protected].
If you are not certain whether you are registered as a patron of the Library, please contact the Library at 410-230-2424 or 800-964-9209 (toll-free in Maryland).
Sign up to your local NLS library to get both Braille books and electronic versions.
Check out Tiflonexos, an Argentinian-based digital library, with a presence across all continents, for Spanish speaking people with visual disabilities based in Latin America.
SOURCES OF LOW-COST BRAILLE BOOKS
Check out these sources of inexpensive hard-copy Braille books.
Ready-to-Read Braille Books
American Printing House for the Blind (Braille Books)
While APH books are not necessarily low in price, schools have funds that can only be spent at APH. In addition to textbooks and early learning books, APH offers books with tactile graphics that can be helpful in science and other classes.
Beulah Reimer Legacy (BRL) (Electronic Braille books)
Very reasonably priced, high-quality Braille-print picture books. Great for learning Braille as a teen with books you grew up loving and for Braille readers taking care of younger children.
The Braille Bookstore (Braille books)
The Braille Bookstore offers many titles in hard copy Braille for all ages, including adults.
National Braille Press (Braille books)
NBP has a variety of titles including some not available anywhere else, including technology guides for blind/low vision individuals, cookbooks, recreational reading, books in Spanish and English, and more.
Read How You Want
Read How You Want is a commercial publisher of accessible books, and available formats include Braille and DAISY digital books. While this publisher is located in Australia, prices are in U.S. dollars, and the variety of titles includes many that are not common in the U.S.
Seedlings Braille Books (Braille books)
Seedlings has a wide variety of Braille books for purchase (after you get your three free Angel books—see above). Seedlings books use Unified English Braille (UEB), except for the EBAE category (noted below). Check out these great categories of Braille books.
Available:
- Print-Braille-and-Picture Books in Uncontracted Braille (62 titles available)
- Print-Braille-and-Picture Books in Contracted Braille (102 titles available)
- Print-and-Braille Books in Uncontracted Braille (46 titles available)
- No pictures, but the Uncontracted Braille and print words are matched line for line to assist in the learning process.
- Print-and-Braille Books in Contracted Braille (100 titles available)
- No pictures, but the Contracted Braille and print words are matched line for line to assist in the learning process.
Other Low-cost Braille Books Sources
Bookshare – Downloading ready-to-be-embossed books
While Bookshare does not provide hard copy books, it does provide the option to download books in BRF (Braille-ready file) format. Note: you must be a member of Bookshare to download these files. Then, you may either emboss the books yourself or find another entity (teacher, agency, individual) to perform the embossing.
Braille Library & Transcribing Services, Inc.
This group offers Braille in three ways:
- Lending library with more than 2,000 titles for children and adults. “There is no charge for borrowing our books; just tell us your name and contact information and we’ll get you started.”
- Purchasing library books.
- Transcribing books upon request (fee for this service).
Categories include:
- Adult Fiction
- Adult Non-Fiction
- Children’s
- Cookbooks
- Crafts
- Print/Braille
- Textbooks
Louis Database of Accessible Materials
This resource contains information about where to locate many books, including those with ready-to-emboss tactile graphics. “The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) maintains and promotes the Louis Database of Accessible Materials, named in honor of Louis Braille. Louis contains information on accessible materials produced by over 75 organizations throughout the United States and Canada. These materials include educational materials in Braille, large print, audio, and electronic file format. Our aim is to provide maximum visibility to accessible educational materials and to meet that goal, the Louis search also includes information from these national repositories.”
Please Contact the Free Bridges Helpdesk Anytime
- Contact us via our Accessible Web Form
- Email: [email protected]
- Text or Leave a voice mail message: (410) 357-1546
Also, please check out:
- Our Bridges Helpdesk Web Site
- Our Bridges Resource Library
- Our Bridges Blog (Weekly Transition Tips)
This unique project is being coordinated through The IMAGE Center of Maryland, a center for independent living in Towson, and it is funded by a grant from the Maryland Department of Education Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services.