TSBVI - Order of Braille Sign Introduction

An English/American instructional series available is the "Clusters" series developed by the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). In that series, ordinary letters and other symbols are introduced gradually along with the contractions, so that, for example, the letter "d" (in cluster 9) is introduced after the contraction for "that" (in cluster 3).

Users of this series should keep in mind that the translation table for a particular level takes care to use only the contractions up to that level, but naturally it will still translate all the characters that are in the file, regardless of level. In other words, to follow the clusters completely as designed, one must refrain from using any text containing the letter "d" before cluster 9.

Note that the letter sign, as applied to isolated letters that are not contractions, is not introduced until Cluster 22.

The complete TSBVI "Clusters" sequence is listed below. Note that Cluster 1 is equivalent to grade 1, and Clusters 54 and above are equivalent to grade 2. Those clusters that are omitted in the (DBT) menu are marked with an asterisk (*). Apart from Cluster 54, the reason that the others are omitted is that they introduce no new contractions nor the letter sign:

Cluster 1:

a, t, m

Cluster *2:

b, g, i

Cluster 3: (Plus the above)

a, that, more, but, go

Cluster *4:

capital, period, I

Cluster *5:

r, f, n

Cluster *6:

x, l, s

Cluster 7: (Plus the above)

rather, from, not

Cluster 8: (Plus the above)

it, like, so

Cluster 9: (Plus the above)

d, do, p, people, k, knowledge

Cluster 10: (Plus the above)

y, you, c, can

Cluster 11: (Plus the above)

h, have, o, question mark

Cluster 12: (Plus the above)

q, quite, u, us, comma

Cluster 13: (Plus the above)

w, will, e, every

Cluster 14: (Plus the above)

v, very, z, as

Cluster 15: (Plus the above)

j, just, and

Cluster *16:

(Reading exercises)

Cluster 17: (Plus the above)

mother, father, right, time, exclamation point

Cluster 18: (Plus the above)

lord, some, day, part, name

Cluster 19: (Plus the above)

know, young, here, one

Cluster 20: (Plus the above)

question, under, work, ever, apostrophe

Cluster *21:

number sign, numerals

Cluster 22: (Plus the above)

hyphen, numeric dates, letter sign

Cluster *23:

comma in large numbers

Cluster 24: (Plus the above)

the, there, braille, ing, him

Cluster 25: (Plus the above)

about, according, after, also, afternoon, afterward

Cluster 26: (Plus the above)

th, this, although, through, across, already

Cluster *27:

(Reading exercises)

Cluster 28: (Plus the above)

almost, always, blind, either, neither, ed

Cluster 29: (Plus the above)

of, by, myself, himself, itself, oneself, yourself

Cluster 30: (Plus the above)

had, quick, its, these, cannot, open quote, closed quote

Cluster 31: (Plus the above)

sh, shall, should, would, could, good, paid

Cluster 32: (Plus the above)

tion, er, herself, perhaps

Cluster 33: (Plus the above)

o'clock, was, con, cc, colon

Cluster 34: (Plus the above)

ou, out, ought, today, tonight, tomorrow

Cluster 35: (Plus the above)

for, ch, child, children, character, such, much

Cluster 36: (Plus the above)

ar, ound, above, en, enough

Cluster *37:

(Reading exercises)

Cluster 38: (Plus the above)

great, together, little, ow, ance

Cluster 39: (Plus the above)

be, bb, semicolon, spirit

Cluster 40: (Plus the above)

because, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond

Cluster 41: (Plus the above)

sion, ble, his, your, friend, letter

Cluster 42: (Plus the above)

less, their, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Cluster 43: (Plus the above)

with, st, still, first, must, again, against

Cluster 44: (Plus the above)

ount, dollar sign, decimal, cent, many

Cluster 45: (Plus the above)

percent, fraction bar, ity

Cluster 46: (Plus the above)

ence, altogether, immediate, com

Cluster *47:

(Reading exercises)

Cluster 48:(Plus the above)

wh, which, where, world, ea

Cluster 49: (Plus the above)

to, ff, in, into, those, said, ong

Cluster 50: (Plus the above)

word, were, gg, parentheses

Cluster 51: (Plus the above)

ness, ment, necessary, ally

Cluster 52: (Plus the above)

dis, dd, gh, ation, ful

Cluster 53: (Plus the above)

upon, whose, thyself

Cluster *54:

conceive, conceiving, deceive, deceiving, declare, declaring, perceive, perceiving, receive, receiving, rejoice, rejoicing

Cluster *55:

dash, ellipsis, asterisk, italics or underline

Cluster *56:

double dash, brackets, inner quotes, accent sign, termination sign, degrees