Island school amongst first in Britain to use Lego Braille Bricks

Thu, 12 Nov 2020

An Isle of Man school is amongst the first in the British Isles to use a system designed by Lego as a new method of teaching pupils who have a visual impairment.

The Danish toy maker launched Braille Bricks earlier this year following a successful pilot project that saw their 300 piece toolkit tested in seven countries and multiple languages.

It has now been made available to select schools and services that cater for blind or visually impaired students in those countries, with Ballakermeen High School amongst the first to try it out.

The bricks look like normal Lego, but unlike regular pieces, the studs are arranged into the system of raised dots that enable blind people to read.

Evie Roberts, 11, who was born blind and joined the school in September, said: ‘They’re really cool. It feels like a really creative way of working on ideas and I love the feel of them. It feels like more fun than using the standard Braille that I use most of the time.’

The Vision Support team is receiving training by Lego and The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), to help deliver learning through focussed activities and on key aspects of learning and development including exploration, orientation, literacy, numeracy and social skills.

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