We took a year to research and learn about tactile book construction and design of the pictures. We need to consider principles of good design such as high contrast of textures and colour, enough depth, keep simple (not cluttered).

We relied upon volunteers to make the books and now we have volunteers who can sew, the quality of the books has improved.

In our research phase we also devised our own checklist of literacy skills in five areas: fine motor; tactile skills; development of symbolic understanding; attention skills and book and storytelling skills.

Teachers and parents (with guidance) can use this checklist to choose books at an appropriate level for their child (A, B, C or D).

We encountered a problem that parents and teachers were reluctant to spend the time to share the book with their child and expected the child to read the book alone. As our books are made for sharing, we have hosted many storytelling sessions in an early intervention class and in a parent support group for children with VI. We have modelled how to read aloud to children and how to encourage the child to explore the tactile pictures at the same time. We are writing guidelines too.

We have already been lending our books but we are excited that we have just moved into our own office with a room designated to be our library. Parents will be able to come to assess their child's literacy development together with us and choose a book to take home. We will continue to ship books to mainstream preschool classes and special school classes.