LEGOs designed for the blind and visually impaired are distributed exclusively from Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dozens of teachers sat around tables Wednesday at the Kentucky International Convention Center and worked to put together LEGO bricks while blindfolded.

The teachers — who work directly with children who are blind or visually impaired — simulated working with an up-and-coming type of LEGO brick that helps students learn Braille.

LEGO Braille Bricks feature a letter or symbol from the Braille alphabet and they can be combined to form words and sentences, just like traditional Braille. The bricks also include printed letters, so sighted teachers, family members and friends can learn alongside the visually impaired children.

"You build your mental imagery and all the library of image you need to have and you understand and connect the concept, the word, the meaning and what you can see," said Marie Oddoux, a Braille specialist for the LEGO Foundation.

Oddoux, along with others from the LEGO Foundation, presented the braille bricks to educators Wednesday at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention in downtown Louisville.

The concept of inclusive LEGO bricks has been floated for years and was finally developed in 2020.

"If you remove some studs, you will transform the Lego Classic bricks into real characters and then be able to learn to play, to read and to write with the bricks and use them also as building materials like classic Lego bricks," Oddoux said.

The Braille bricks are free but only available to educators who are teaching students who are blind or visually impaired. Those organizations or teachers must complete a request form agreeing not to sell or give away the Braille bricks.

All of the Braille brick kits distributed in the U.S. come from Louisville's American Printing House, a nonprofit organization that creates "accessible learning experiences through educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are blind and low vision."

"We think it's very important," said Rachel Bishop, who manages braille brick distribution for American Printing House. "We believe that Braille is literacy for blind children, and these bricks introduce it in a way that is fun and engaging.”

LEGO provided APH with about 30,000 kits in 2020 and it has already distributed 16,000.

"They're tactile," Bishop said. "So students can feel them and play with them. They can develop social and emotional skills because they are engaged. They can engage with sighted peers with them and play with them.”

The pieces first assembled in Louisville and then by children across the country construct a true vision for inclusivity and education.

To request a LEGO Braille Brick Kit, click here.