Despite continuing appeals of parents and teachers of children with a visual impairment, books with tactile illustrations are still difficult to find. Those which are available, make entertainment their main objective and show less interest in direct educational value. While enjoyment of books with “things to feel” is of primary importance, tactile illustrations, and tactile graphics in particular, can play an important role in helping a totally blind learner understand a wide range of concepts based on visual experience and spatial relations.
This presentation describes activity books, and how they work in practice. The idea behind activity books, which come with specially designed toys or models, is that direct experience combined with tactile drawings illustrating different activities, can significantly contribute towards better understanding of the relation between objects and drawings shown from different perspectives, and of concepts involving stages and processes.
Prior knowledge of topic assumed: Low
Contains advanced technical content: No
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