Feelor coloured pencils express their colour with symbolic shapes so that young visually impaired children can more easily tell one colour from another.
Feelor is a set of coloured pencils for use by visually impaired children. Typically, in order for a visually impaired child to recognise the colour of a pencil, Braille will be applied to the pencil. Alternately, teachers will assist the child. Children who are unfamiliar with Braille – usually those under eight years old – must be completely dependent on other people.
Feelor uses shapes associated with particular colours to help children recognise a colour for themselves. Moreover, by feeling the shapes, children’s sense of touch will also develop. The surface of each pencil has dots that indicate whether or not it contains lead. The pencils are triangular rather than round in section to prevent them from being dropped so easily. The pencils are stored in a specially designed case with a string, so they can be hung in the most convenient locations and carried easily.
Symbolisation aids a child in the selection of colours. As opposed to a more abstract system (such as one dot signifying red and two dots signifying yellow), the Feelor system requires less training for the child. Thus, an apple, for example, means red and a chick means yellow. Teachers can allow the children to guess the colours of things, calling “apple-colour” and “chick-colour” instead of “red” and “yellow.”
The coloured pencil market is large and globalised. There are many manufacturers around the world and a variety of products. Coloured pencils for the visually impaired, however, are not readily available. The development of a system such as Feelor could help visually impaired children study art in better and more meaningful ways. |
