This chapter is intended to discuss the unique learning needs braille
readers face as they learn to read. The braille reading teacher will
benefit from considering these needs and identifying methods and techniques
useful to address them.|
What makes a good braille reader? That question has been asked by every
teacher that has worked with children with blindness. What about the child
who has low vision now, but may lose it at anytime? What do I (the teacher)
need to look for, when do I start, and how do I proceed? These questions
have different answers depending on the student for whom the questions are
asked. So, what does the braille teacher do? The following discussion is
meant to give the reader a range of ideas and suggestions. Rules of thumb
are offered for the teacher's wise use. Observation, gut feel, intuitive
teacher magic, and other tricks of the trade should be employed minute by
minute when the actual act of "teaching" is happening. The child's
motivation, family attitude (whether braille is "a wonderful tool to open
doors" or "something that tells everyone this child is blind"), teacher's
attitude toward braille, physical and/or cognitive delays or deficits, are
just a few of the "other" attributes for consideration. Luckily good
teachers recognize that each child is unique. Consistency, encouragement,
patience, hope, confidence, optimism, and other teacher and family traits
and behaviors often make the difference between success and failure.
The following three groups represent the categories of students who will
need to learn braille:
The beginning braille reader, like all beginning readers, must acquire the
readiness skills associated with the actual reading process. An important
prerequisite that all readers must have to be efficient and read with
comprehension is a rich background of concrete experiences involving many
objects, people, places, activities, and cause and effect relationships. In
addition, the child must have receptive and expressive vocabulary that
corresponds to his experiences. Each individual child must develop auditory
skills of identification, closure, sequence, memory for stories, and
discrimination. The young reader must be able to concentrate, exert self
control, and follow directions. Another important readiness factor is
motivation. Once the student has experiences and language sufficient to
read, he can begin a more structured reading program. There are many
effective teaching programs used to provide reading instruction. Each child
will have his or her own unique set of experiences.
- The beginning reader who is blind
- The reader who will use both braille and print
- The reader who has learned to read using print who now needs to read using braille
The teacher will find that the number and quality of concrete experiences
will vary from child to child. One should never assume that basic
information is correctly understood until the child can demonstrate that he
or she does understand. While both sighted and blind children require
language concepts, it is more time consuming to provide the experience
required to teach the concepts to the student without vision. It is
important to provide experiences in a natural environment. The child who
has been read to, seen braille labels, and experienced braille books is
more apt to understand.
The children that have already learned to read print have mastered the
"reading process" skills, however, they must develop the skills associated
with reading using their fingers. All students learning to use braille must
acquire the following:
- Tactual Discrimination--The ability to discriminate discrete
tactual differences is essential to efficient braille reading. The
noticeable shape or arrangement of dots is the most critical variable in
braille reading. Do not teach the child by teaching the dot numbers. This
may be helpful to the person who reads braille with his eyes, but not for
the tactile reader. Also, avoid teaching the idea that some letters are
reversible pairs; for example, "r" and "w."
- Finger Dexterity--The effective braille reader will have "curious"
fingers that move quickly, with ease. Many readers use all four fingers of
each hand. This speeds up the reading process by allowing the reader a view
of a series of symbols rather than a single cell.
- Hand and Finger Movement--Most good braille readers use two hands.
A skilled two handed reader begins reading a line of braille by placing
both hands at the beginning of a line. At approximately the middle of the
line, the right hand continues to read to the end of the line while the
left hand moves in the opposite direction to locate the beginning of the
next line. The right hand finishes reading the first line, the left hand
then reads the first words on the next line, and the right hand quickly
joins the left hand on the second line.
- Light Finger Touch--Beginning readers may have a heavy touch,
however, to be good two hand readers one must acquire a light touch. Games
may be created to help students develop a light touch. An example of an
activity to encourage a light touch is to ask students to slide their
fingers across a piece of paper without moving the paper. This takes
practice and attention to task. In addition, the student's hands should
move smoothly from left to right without stopping.
- Page Turning--The student should be instructed to turn the page
quickly with the right hand when the left hand cannot find another line.
The above was taken from "Faster Braille Reading: Preparation at the
Reading Readiness Level," by Myrna R. Olson (THE NEW OUTLOOK, 1976). The braille teacher should read this entire article.
Exercise and special activities are needed to develop strength, dexterity,
and endurance. Writing braille using a braillewriter will assist the
braille reader by reinforcing his recall and memory of the shape of the
letters and symbols.
Students will perform better if their hands are clean, dry, and warm.
Furniture should fit their bodies allowing the arms from the wrists to the
elbows to be even or a bit higher than the desktop. Feet should be flat on
the floor and the back straight.
The braille teacher should study the works of Dr. Sally Mangold and Dr.
Randal Harley. Remember, students with severe visual disabilities will not
be literate without braille skills. The American Printing House for the
Blind produces two special series to teach braille reading. "Patterns" is
the name of the series for young braille readers and "Read Again" is for
older students who are skilled print readers who want to learn braille.
Now is a good time to practice "reading with your fingers." Get out some
braille work, blindfold yourself, and read!