Skip to main content
AIM VA Accessible Instructional Materials logo

Open up the world of Braille literacy to your students!

Welcome to supporting an awareness of literacy for students who use Braille. Braille literacy is directly linked to print literacy, academic success, and future employment. It unlocks many doors both personally for enjoyment and independence as well as professionally, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment toward a life well-lived!

As educators, we can support Braille instruction in school by engaging students and helping to grow their literacy knowledge. Check out the options below:

  • Join the fun with the 2017 Braille Challenge! The Braille Challenge© is an academic reading and writing competition to motivate and challenge blind and visually impaired students while rewarding them through fun activities both locally and nationally. The challenge involves activities focused on reading comprehension, braille speed and accuracy, proofreading, spelling and reading tactile charts and graphs. This year’s 2017 Braille Challenge ends with the top finalist meeting in Los Angeles in June for the National Braille Challenge.
  • Check out the Braille Bug©. Have your kids be the teacher and teach sighted classmates about braille while they use the tools, games and stories on the website, The Braille Bug©. The Braille Bug is a website sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind(AFB). It is a great resource to expose peers to braille by using fun facts as well as activities to learn about braille.
  • Attend one or more of the Knowledge at Noon webinars designed as a series to focus on various aspects and perspectives on Large Print and Digital accessibility for students who have visual impairments.
  • Order accessible materials from AIM-VA! As your students build their reading knowledge and work in the inclusion classroom, AIM-VA is the perfect complement, providing converted classroom materials to meet the individual learner’s needs. AIM-VA converts textbooks, reading books, worksheets, tests, and teacher created curriculum-based materials into alternative formats to support individual learning needs. Do your students with VI have access to the same content materials as peers within the inclusion classroom? Reach out to AIM-VA for support! We can help convert those materials to meet your student’s needs.

We Are AIM-VA AIM-VA is a service of the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) through a grant to The Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities at George Mason University. AIM-VA provides accessible instructional materials to Virginia K-12 students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Subscribe to AIM-VA's monthly newsletter. Sign up here.