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Texas School a Key Partner in Developing Resources for Blind & Visually Impaired Students
Read Naturally’s new Resources for Blind & Visually Impaired Students, which started shipping in June 2010, are valuable resources for helping blind and visually impaired students improve their reading fluency in braille, just as Read Naturally’s standard materials help sighted students.
The ability to read braille is not as common among people who are visually impaired as it once was, partly because of the advent of technologies like audio books and screen readers. Some studies indicate that only about 10% of visually impaired people can read braille today, compared to about 50% in the middle of the 20th century.
However, reading braille is still a valuable skill. A survey by the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute showed a correlation between the ability to read braille and a higher educational level, higher likelihood of employment, and a higher income.
The resource CDs include two types of files—files for printing the Read Naturally stories in braille (both Duxbury and Braille2000 formats) and text files for easily creating large-print versions of the stories.
Read Naturally could not have offered these braille and large-print resources without the invaluable assistance of the people at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) in Austin, Texas.
The idea for the project started after one of the Texas school’s teachers attended a Read Naturally seminar and got the idea of transcribing the Read Naturally stories into braille for students at the school.
Initially, the braille transcriptions were customized for individual students, but after conversations between Read Naturally and the school, the idea of offering standardized braille files to a larger audience gained traction.
A key player in developing the braille files was Susan Mattson, Braille Transcriber and Adapted Materials Specialist at TSBVI. Her expertise was invaluable in transcribing all 24 stories in each of 15 Read Naturally levels into the Duxbury and Braille2000 formats.
Levels .8 through 2.0 are presented in uncontracted braille, where each print character in the original Read Naturally story is represented by a corresponding braille character. Levels 2.5 and above use contracted braille, where standard contractions are used to shorten the representation of words and syllables.
Lanie Molinar, a student at the Texas school, also performed a valuable role in the development of the braille materials. As an excellent braille reader, Lanie was the ideal choice to edit the braille transcriptions for accuracy to make sure they are readable for braille readers.
Jeri Cleveland, a teacher at the school, suggested also including text files for creating large-print versions for students who are visually impaired but not blind.
Braille and large-print materials produced from the Read Naturally resource CDs are already in use at the school, and there is increased interest from the teachers at the school and from outside teachers who have contact with TSBVI through its outreach program.
Renee Toy, an elementary teacher at the school, has used braille versions of Read Naturally materials for three years and has seen favorable results with it.
“I think it’s a great way to improve braille [reading fluency],” Renee said. “I’ve seen progress with all of the students who’ve used it. I love the comprehension component of it.”
Susan shared that the Read Naturally braille and large-print resources have “brought tears to the eyes of teachers who have never seen materials mainstreamed like this before” for blind and visually impaired students.
Susan also reports that visually impaired users have reported being able to easily navigate the resource CDs with JAWS (Job Access With Speech), a screen reader that enables visually impaired users to use computers.
For more information or to order, visit the Resources for Blind & Visually Impaired Students web page.