Article: Whether you are blind or sighted, there are numerous resources available for free that will help you learn the Braille code and start reading by touch. Search for nonprofit organizations dedicated to assisting people who are blind. Schools for the blind also have resources available to the general public. The Hadley Institute for the Visually Impaired offers distance-learning courses for reading Braille. These courses are free for the visually impaired. Visit https://hadley.edu/brailleCoursesFAQ.asp to evaluate available courses. You can also purchase Braille blocks and toys online to help with learning letters. These materials can be especially helpful for young children. A standard Braille cell is made up of 6 dots arranged in 2 columns of 3 dots each. All of the dots are equal distance apart. The top left dot is numbered "1," the dot below it is "2," and the bottom dot in the first column is "3." The dots in the second column are numbered "4," "5," and "6" from top to bottom. Each Braille letter or symbol has a unique combination of dots and blank spaces. Braille printed for the sighted may have "shadow dots" in the empty spaces, to help people see the positions of the dots more easily. Braille for the blind won't have shadow dots. To read Braille through touch, you need reasonably good finger sensitivity. Most adults have enough finger sensitivity to read Braille. If your finger sensitivity has been impacted by an injury or health condition, you may want to use "jumbo dot" Braille. In the Braille code, the first 10 letters of the alphabet form the basis of all the other letters. These letters only use the top 4 dots in each cell. Thinking about the numbering of the dots in relation to the letter's place in the alphabet may help you learn them easier. The letter a has dot 1 only. This makes intuitive sense because a is the first letter of the alphabet. Likewise, the letter b has dot 1 and dot 2, for the second letter of the alphabet. The letter c has dot 1 and dot 4. The letter d has dots 1, 4, and 5. The letter e has dots 1 and 5. The letter f has dots 1, 2, and 4. The letter g has dots 1, 2, 4, and 5 all 4 top dots are full. the letter h has dots 1, 2, and 5. You can think of g as adding dot 3 to letter f, and then h as taking away dot 4 from letter g. Unlike the previous 8 letters, the letters i and j do not have dot 1. The letter i has dots 2 and 4. The letter j has dots 2, 4, and 5. The Braille code follows a distinct pattern. The next 10 letters of the alphabet are formed by repeating the same dots as the first 10 letters, then adding dot 3 to each to form the new letter. For example, the letter k has 2 dots: the dot 1 from the letter a plus dot 3. Note that the letter l, with dots 1, 2, and 3, basically looks like the lower-case letter it represents. For the remaining letters (except w), take the k through o and add dot 6. Leave the letter w out completely, as it doesn't fit the pattern all the other letters do. The letter u has dot 1 and 3 from letter k, plus dot 6. The letter v has dots 1, 2, and 3 from letter l, plus dot 6. Since you're skipping w for now, the next letter is x, which has dots 1, 3, and 4 from letter m, plus dot 6. The letter y has dots 1, 3, 4, and 5 from letter n, plus dot 6. The letter z has dots 1, 3, and 5 from letter o, plus dot 6. The letter w is the only letter that doesn't fit the pattern. This is because the Braille code was invented by Frenchman Louis Braille in 1860. At the time, there was no w in the French alphabet, so Braille didn't include it in his code. A w has dot 2 on the left side, and dots 4, 5, and 6 on the right side.

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Seek out Braille instructional materials. Memorize the numbers for the 6 dots in a Braille cell. Start with the first 10 letters of the alphabet. Add dot 3 to form the letters k through t. Add dot 6 to form u, v, x, y, and z. Learn the letter w separately.