The McDuffy Reader: A Braille Primer for Adults

The McDuffy Reader: A Braille Primer for Adults

Future Reflections Summer 1990, Vol. 9 No. 2
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LITERATURE REVIEW
THE McDUFFY READER:
A Braille Primer for Adults
by Sharon L M. Duffy
Available from the
National Federation of the Blind
- Review by Doris M. Willoughby
This brand new Braille instruction book is excellent
for high school students as well as adults.
With some supplementing and extra guidance, it
is also suitable for many students in junior high
and even the intermediate grades.
The alphabet, punctuation, numerals, and all the
signs of Grade II Braille are taught. Variety and
frequent change of pace make the selections
especially interesting and enjoyable. Many passages
are quite humorous.
Overall pacing and amount of material is good.
New formats such as single spacing are phased in
gradually.
A particularly helpful section, which is absent
from many instruction books, is a summary and
explanation of basic rules of usage (example:
"The 'com' sign need not be a syllable to be used,
but may not be used in contact with a hyphen,
dash, or apostrophe.") Students who have read
Braille all their lives should study this section of
the book; many have a very vague understanding
of the rules for use of various signs.
The McDuffy Reader is now available from the
National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; (301) 6599314.
The student's Braille text is $10.00. An
inkprint copy of the student's text, line-for-line,
is also $10.00. In addition, in the near future a
student's cassette guide will be available, along
with a complete teacher's manual. The teacher's
manual will include a complete copy of the
student's cassette; a lesson-by-lesson guide for
the teacher; general methods and ideas; suggestions
for the use of the Perkins Braille Writer and
the Braille slate; and brief overviews of the
Nemeth Code, Braille music, Grade III Braille,
and Braille shorthand.
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