Tactile Skills Matrix

Tactile literacy skills like creating and interpreting tactile graphics and recognizing braille characters and symbols can be difficult for many young learners to grasp. That’s why we created the Tactile Literacy Matrix! Use this resource to locate APH products that support the development of skills and concepts that contribute to students’ tactile literacy.

How to Use the Tactile Skills Matrix

Navigate through the 18 matrix dimensions to view a list of recommended APH products. Click on the active link for each recommended product to obtain more detailed information regarding the product’s purpose, components, target population, price, and related products from APH’s shopping site.

Keep in mind the following as you use this resource:

You are encouraged to periodically revisit the online Tactile Skills Matrix because new products will continue to be added in the future.
Many of the recommended APH products introduce and address multiple tactile skills and therefore appear in more than one listing.
Tactile skills are often addressed concurrently, instead of in a sequential or linear fashion, during the use of many of the recommended APH products.
Teachers and parents are encouraged to find alternate ways to use the recommended products to broaden the types of tactile skills introduced.
Although intended for a specific age or grade level, many of the recommended APH products can be tailored to multiple student populations. For example, an older tactile reader might benefit from using a kit intended for a young child if he or she is new to the use of tactile graphics.

The following APH products support Braille Awareness:
- All Aboard! The Sight Word Activity Express
- Alphabet Scramble
- Alphabet Spinner (also included with Hop-A-Dot Mat)
- Braille Beads: APH Starter Kit
- BrailleBuzz
- Building On Patterns (BOP): Primary Braille Literacy Program
- Feel ‘n Peel Stickers: Braille/Print Alphabet Letters
- Feel ‘n Peel Stickers: Braille/Print Capital Letters A-Z
- Fun with Braille: Braille Format
- Hop-A-Dot Mat
- Lots of Dots: Learning My ABC’s (UEB Modification)
- On the Way to Literacy Storybooks
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - Goin’ on a Bear Hunt
  - Splish the Fish
  - The Boy and the Wolf
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- Number Spinner (also included with Hop-A-Dot Mat)
- Pop-A-Cell
- Reach & Match® Learning Kit
- Reach & Match Alphabet Tiles
- Six Little Dots
- Swing Cell Compact
- Word Associations Print/Braille Labels
- Word PlayHouse
Tactile literacy involves more than just reading tactile graphics. Tactile literacy also involves the ability to create, draw, and embellish graphics. The following APH products allow students to Create Graphics using a variety of tactile drawing/art materials and methods either as stand-alone tools or in combination with each other.
The following APH products encourage Exploration of Real Objects by facilitating hands-on experiences with common objects and shapes.
It is very important that tactile readers become familiar with a variety of tactile methods (e.g., microcapsule paper, embossed paper, thermoform, collage, interactive materials). The following APH products and materials contain graphics produced using one or more tactile methods. This list contains a representative sample of products across the various types of methods. Visit APH’s Shopping site for additional tactile graphic products.

Microcapsule Paper
- Color-by-Texture CIRCUS Coloring Pages
- Raised-Line Coloring Pages
Thermoformed/Vacuum-formed
- Sense of Science Series: ANIMALS; ASTRONOMY; PLANTS
- Setting the Stage for Tactile Understanding
- SPORTS COURTS
- Tactile Tangrams “Solution Pages”
- Teaching Touch
- U.S. & Canada Tactile/Print Atlas
Embossed Paper
- Clock Face Sheets in Braille
- Embossed Graph Sheets (Assorted Types Available)
Interactive/Movable Pieces
- Azer’s Interactive Periodic Table Study Set
- Best for a Nest Interactive Storybook
- Flip-Over Concept Books: TELLING TIME UEB version and Nemeth version
- Moving Ahead Series (with tactile storyboards):
  - Splish the Fish
  - The Boy and the Wolf
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- Picture Maker: Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit
- SPORTS COURTS
- Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit
Collage

The following materials can be used to create collage graphics:
- Carousel of Textures
- Carousel of Textures II
- Downloadable templates from Tactile Graphic Image Library (TGIL)
- Graphic Art Tape
- Tactile Book Builder Kit
- Textured Paper Collection
The following APH products support the development of Hand Skills such as reaching, twisting, turning, stringing, transferring, sliding, holding, grasping, etc., within purposeful contexts.
The following APH products support Line Tracking skills by encouraging students to trace different types of tactile lines and paths (e.g., dotted, solid, dashed, etc.) within tactile worksheets, board games, activities, and storybooks.
- Accessible Code and Go Mouse
- Flip-Over Concept Books: LINE PATHS
- Finger Walks
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - Goin’ on a Bear Hunt
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- On the Way to Literacy Storybooks:
  - The Longest Noodle
  - Rolling Into Place™ storybook
- Teaching Touch includes line-tracking worksheets
The following APH products demonstrate Part-Whole Relationships.
- A Tail for Baby Lizard
- Flip-Over Concept Books: PARTS OF A WHOLE
- Flip-Over Concept Books: FRACTIONS  UEB version and Nemeth version
- Flip-Over Concept Books: TELLING TIME UEB version and Nemeth version
- MathBuilders, Unit 7: Fractions, Mixed Numbers, and Decimals (Braille Kit; Large Print Kit)
- On the Way to Literacy Storybook: Roly-Poly Man
- Slide, Twist, ‘N Solve: Tactile Brain Teaser
- Tactile Tangrams
- The Littlest Pumpkin, Puzzle Set
The following APH products provide practice Reading Charts and Tables.
- Addition and Subtraction Table
- Azer’s Interactive Periodic Table Study Set (Nemeth version)
- Classroom Calendar Kit (English Edition or Spanish Edition)
- Consumable Hundreds Chart
- Downloadable charts and tables from Tactile Graphic Image Library (TGIL)
- Hundreds Boards and Manipulatives Kit: Nemeth and UEB versions
- Individual Calendar Kit
The following APH products provide practice Reading Graphs, including readymade tactile graphs and templates for designing tactile graphs.
The following APH products provide practice Reading Maps, including readymade tactile maps and templates for designing tactile maps.
- Downloadable maps from Tactile Graphic Image Library (TGIL)
- Going to the Playground iOS App and Overlays
- Moving Ahead Series:
- Goin’ on a Bear Hunt
- Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit
- Tactile World Globe
- U.S. & Canada Tactile/Print Atlas
- World at Your Fingers
- World Maps
The following APH products support Shape Recognition by encouraging students to compare and identify different types of textures (e.g., rough, smooth, bumpy, etc.) within tactile worksheets, board games, activities, storybooks, and more.
- A Tail for Baby Lizard
- Boehm-3 Preschool Tactile Edition Kit
- Bright Shapes Knob Puzzle
- Color-By-Texture Marking Mats using the “Fun Shapes” mat
- Geometric Forms
- Geometro: Rectangles and Isosceles Triangles
- Giant Textured Beads
- Going to the Playground iOS App with Overlays
- Hundreds Boards and Manipulatives (Nemeth) and (UEB) versions available
- MathBuilders Unit 1: Matching, Sorting, and Patterning
- Pegs and Pegboard
- Picture Maker: Geometric Textured Shapes
- Picture Maker: Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit
- Plexiglas® Blocks
- Reach & Match® Learning Kit
- Slide, Twist, ‘N Solve: Tactile Brain Teaser
- Small, Medium, and Large Circles, Set I
- Tactile Tangrams
- Tactile Treasures (Tactile/Color Edition)
- Teaching Touch
- Textured Sorting Circles and Shapes
The following APH products support the development of Spatial Understanding by introducing and reviewing basic concepts (above, next to, between, center, across from, beside, etc.) and concepts related to directionality and orientation and mobility (compass directions, types of intersections, etc.).
- Accessible Code and Go Mouse
- Boehm-3 Preschool Tactile Edition Kit
- Games of Squares Games recommended for spatial skills: “Corner Chase,” “Trading Places,” and “Zigzag”
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - Goin’ on a Bear Hunt
  - The Boy and the Wolf
- On the Way to Literacy Storybooks:
  - Bumpy Rolls Away
  - The Caterpillar
- Picture Maker: Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit
- Reach & Match® Learning Kit
- Rolling Into Place
- Setting the Stage for Tactile Understanding The “Intermission” chapter focuses on spatial understanding.
- Six Little Dots
- StackUps: Spatial Reasoning Using Cubes and Isometric Drawings
- Tactile Algebra Tiles
- Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit
- Tactile Treasures (Tactile/Color Edition)
- TREKS: The Game of Compass Directions
The following APH products build Symbolic Understanding by demonstrating how objects and things in the real world are sometimes represented by abstract tactile drawings or symbols.
- Boehm-3 Preschool Tactile Edition Kit
- Flip-Over Concept Books: PARTS OF A WHOLE
- On the Way to Literacy Storybooks:
- Lots of Dots: Coloring the Garden
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - Goin’ on a Bear Hunt
  - Splish the Fish
  - The Boy and the Wolf
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- SAM: Symbols and Meaning
- Setting the Stage for Tactile Understanding
- STACS: Standardized Tactile Augmentative Communication Symbols Kit
- Tactile Connections: Symbols for Communication
- Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit
- Tactile Treasures, Tactile/Color Edition
- The Best for a Nest Interactive Storybook
The following APH products support Systematic Scanning by encouraging students to explore a tactile display in a systematic fashion—top to bottom, left to right, clockwise, etc., within tactile worksheets, board games, storybooks, and more.
- Finger Walks
- Games of Squares Games recommended for systematic scanning: “Trading Places” and “Zigzag”
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - The Boy and the Wolf
  - Splish the Fish
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- Tactile Treasures (Tactile/Color Edition)
- Teaching Touch Kit
- TREKS: The Game of Compass Directions
The following APH products support Texture Discrimination by encouraging students to compare and identify different types of textures (e.g., rough, smooth, bumpy, etc.) within tactile worksheets, board games, activities, storybooks, and more.
The following APH products facilitate students’ transition from 3D objects/models to 2D tactile displays.
- Analog Clock Model with Clock Face Sheets in Braille
- Animal Recipes: Farm Set
- Azer’s Interactive Periodic Table Study Set (Nemeth) with Periodic Table of the Elements Reference Chart and Booklet in Braille
- DNA-RNA Kit
- Geometro: Student Workbook Kit
- Globe: Tactile and Visual with World at Your Fingers
- Number Line Device with Consumable Number Lines: Braille/Tactile Set
- On the Way to Literacy Storybooks:
- Setting the Stage for Tactile Understanding
- SPORTS COURTS
- StackUps: Spatial Reasoning Using Cubes and Isometric Drawings
- Tactile Protractor with embossed paper templates of protractors included in the Braille Transcriber’s Kit: Math
- Tactile Tangrams
- Tactile Town: 3-D O&M Kit with Picture Maker: Wheatley Tactile Diagramming Kit
- Textured Sorting Circles and Shapes
- Touch, Label, and Learn Poster: Human Skeleton (Anterior View)
The following APH products encourage Understanding Perspective by introducing and reviewing concepts such as top view, side view, front view, cross section, flips, rotations, etc., within tactile worksheets, science overlays, puzzles, and more.
- Geometro:
- Geometro – Additional Shapes:
  - Pack of 6 Octagons
  - Pack of 6 Rectangles
- Sense of Science: ANIMALS — Includes a tactile overlay that shows the top and side views of a turtle
- Sense of Science: ASTRONOMY — Includes a tactile overlay that shows the top and side views of the Space Shuttle and a cross section of the Sun
- Sense of Science: PLANTS — Includes a tactile overlay that shows the cross section of a log
- Setting the Stage for Tactile Understanding — Includes a 3D house and matching 2D cards to introduce concepts of front, side, and top views
- StackUps: Spatial Reasoning Using Cubes and Isometric Drawings
- Tactile Tangrams Kit — Includes puzzles that encourage concepts related to flips and rotations
The following APH products require Using Keys/Legends within maps, games, storybooks, and activities. Symbols, line paths, textures, and/or braille labels are used to find meaning in the accompanying graphic(s).
- Basic Science Tactile Graphics
- Build-A-Cell
- Earth Science Tactile Graphics
- Life Science Tactile Graphics
- Health Education Tactile Graphics
- Moving Ahead Series:
  - The Boy and the Wolf
  - Splish the Fish
  - Turtle and the Rabbit
- Tactile World Globe
- Touch, Label, and Learn Poster: Human Skeleton (Anterior View)
- U.S. & Canada Tactile/Print Atlas
- World Maps
If you have additional recommendations for APH products that should be listed under each of the tactile skill areas, share your ideas with Karen J. Poppe, Tactile Literacy Product Manager, at kpoppe@aph.org as she continues to update this Tactile Skills Matrix.

Tactile Skills Matrix

How to Use the Tactile Skills Matrix

Braille Awareness

Creating Graphics

Exploration of Real Objects

Familiarity with TG Methods

Microcapsule Paper

Thermoformed/Vacuum-formed

Embossed Paper

Interactive/Movable Pieces

Collage

Hand Skills

Line Tracking

Part-Whole Relationships

Reading Charts and Tables

Reading Graphs

Reading Maps

Shape Recognition

Spatial Understanding

Symbolic Understanding

Systematic Scanning

Texture Discrimination

Transition from 3D to 2D

Understanding Perspective

Using Keys and Legends