And now, with their own cookbooks, students who are blind or have low vision are cooking up a storm.

RIDBC ABS Teacher’s Aide Carolyn was instrumental in turning the idea into a reality. “Cooking is a great way to draw subject matter in from the curriculum,” she said.

One such example occurred recently when the students were learning about Australia, the states, and animals.

“We have been making cookies in animal shapes. We teach the subject matter, discuss the ingredients, and incorporate mathematics, and there are many ways we incorporate maths – firstly by using quarter and half cups and then by dividing and multiplying the cookies,” Carolyn said.

The cookbooks created showcased an RIDBC team effort with the idea of the ABS team being brought to life by the Access and Inclusion Services team which produced the resources in three accessible formats:

1. Standard font
2. Large font
3. Braille

All students access the cookbooks according to their accessibility needs with the standard font books giving students a chance to learn and refine their skills with low vision devices such as magnifiers.

The lessons include sensory aspects including smell and touch, and use a combination of individual and group responsibilities, furthering the experience and giving the teaching staff opportunities to encourage independence. The result – the students gain a sense of achievement and pride.

And the students are loving the recipes with the cookies being a universal favourite! So much so that, as Carolyn explains, “One of the students cooks the recipes at home!”

Thanks to the generosity of Carolyn, the RIDBC Alice Betteridge School and the RIDBC Accessibility and Inclusion Services team we are making the files available to reproduce the cookbooks in standard font, large font and braille. To access these cookbooks please email marketing@ridbc.org.au. Please note you would require a braille embosser to reproduce the cookbook in braille.

This news article was created prior to 22 March 2021 when NextSense was Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC).