Reply To: kindergarten math workbook
It's a tough question. The lower grade material often requires the most creativity and personal investment from the transcriber.
First, I think your inclination to use simple shapes and textures to give the braille reader what information you can is spot on. Second, I would not suggest sticking too rigidly to Promising Practices. It is currently under revision, so it is not precisely and active set of guidelines. For this project, your common sense and ingenuity will be far more important than any formatting guidelines.
The advice I received from a couple of early education specialists is 1) keep it simple, and 2) "Only include the parts that are necessary to actually answer the question. Leave out extraneous information like the smiling bear and the giant trees if they aren’t directly needed to answer the question."
So, with all that in mind, here are some suggestions for the material you mentioned in your question:
[ul][li]Maybe two standing lion cubs are two tall, shaded rectangles; and the one sitting lion cub is a shorter, shaded square?[/li][/ul][ul][li]Perhaps three red circles are shaded with wavy lines, and one purple circle is shaded with tiny dots. (Sure, the student won't get the colors, but he/she will get to apply the concept of different.)[/li][/ul][ul][li]Maybe cartoons can be headed by a TN-enclosed heading "Picture" and their dialogue could be written out. If you do use any description, I would keep it verrrrry simple (e.g. "In the woods" or "With a ballon").[/li][/ul]
When you write up your estimate for the customer, I would suggest you explain that you'll use simple tactual shapes and textures to represent the concepts that are illustrated in print with complicated drawings and colors. I would include this explanation in the teacher's reference materials as well.
Does that help a bit? If not, please let me know.
Kudos to you for taking on the Kindergarten!
–Kyle