Manipulatives in the History of Teaching: Fast Forward to AutOMathic Blocks for the Blind

The use of manipulative objects in the teaching of younger children has been a well known and accepted educational practice for over 200 years. The use of manipulative blocks have been valuable in the teaching of subjects such as the alphabet, linear and multidimensional measurements and early mathematics to name a few. In the current work, we present a brief overview of the traditional use of these tools as a basis for the discussion of the AutOMathic Blocks system - a systems that integrates the physical manipulative object with a computer to deliver personal math instruction to young students with visual impairments