JVIB:Literacy: Guest Editorial

## GUEST EDITORIAL

Literacy: the ability to read and write, to access information, and to communicate thoughts and ideas to others has always been an important skill. Today, more than ever, those with the ability to communicate through reading and writing have the key that opens doors of employment, recreation, and enlightenment. Technology is catching up with our need for instant braille-to-print and print-to-braille transcription. Speech synthesizers and reading machines are helping make print more readily accessible.

Seven years ago the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness published a special issue on literacy, which has become an important resource in our field. Since that time, there has been a great deal of focus on literacy by professionals and consumers. Teachers and administrators have supported and participated in two conferences relating specifically to the literacy needs of visually impaired children and adults (Getting In Touch with Literacy, 1993, 1995). New assessment techniques and teaching methods have been developed. There has been increased legislative focus on the literacy needs of individuals with visual impairments and accessible media for printed materials throughout our communities.

The 1996 special issue grew out of an awareness that we are continuing to grow rapidly in our knowledge about literacy and therefore in our desire to know more. Communication among professionals is essential to encourage continued growth in this area. This issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness will serve two specific purposes. The first is to provide a forum for continuing to discuss new developments in research, instruction, and philosophy of literacy for individuals who are visually impaired. The second is to help recognize that our work is far from over. Individuals who are blind must have opportunities to learn basic literacy skills and to grow in their literacy abilities so that communication through reading and writing is an efficient part of their lives and so that the joy of reading is possible,

We feel privileged to have been asked to be guest editors for this special issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness. We believe that our field must address the topic of literacy throughout the life span, not simply at school age. The questions surrounding instruction in literacy for adults who are visually impaired are critical if we are to encourage independence and appropriate, competitive employment among this population.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

During the 1960s and much of the 1970s, there was a strong emphasis on the use of vision for individuals who were visually impaired. The intensity of discussion and thinking on literacy took somewhat of a backseat to instruction designed to encourage efficient use of "residual" vision. It was not that reading and writing were deemed unimportant, but many people probably felt that the way to attain literacy for persons with low vision was to teach more efficient visual skills.

Beginning in the early to mid-1980s, there was a heightened level of interest and attention given to issues of literacy. The increase of technology, specifically the early focus on the Optacon as a literacy tool, probably added to this trend. For a time, many people were concerned that these new high-tech advances would eliminate the need for braille and that braille would become obsolete.

Also, there has been an increase in the voice of consumer organizations as issues relating to literacy arose. Many states have passed "braille bills" designed to regulate literacy instruction for students with visual impairments, especially for those students who have low vision. The passage of braille bills in some states was extremely uncomfortable and pulled consumers and professionals apart. In other states consumers, parents, and professionals were able to work together to develop legislation that recognized the need for informed, non biased decisions regarding literacy media and also addressed service delivery issues related to the need for qualified teachers and a manageable number of students on a teacher's caseload.

Today, we realize that literacy is a cornerstone in building independence for individuals who are visually impaired. We recognize the tremendous importance of technology, not to replace print or braille, but to make accessible media more readily available. We often think of the analogy of a toolbox as we discuss the need for a variety of literacy options. It is important for children and adults alike to fill their literacy toolbox with as many different options as possible so that no task requiring literacy is impossible.

IN THIS ISSUE

This special issue appropriately begins with a section on emergent literacy. The notion that young children are always ready to learn to read and write is influencing both professional perspectives and teaching practices. Stratton provides a thorough review of the literature on emergent print literacy and then explores the unique learning needs of young children with visual impairments at this early literacy level. Similarly, Lamb reviews elements of whole language principles as they relate to early literacy learning and offers a unique strategy for developing beginning braille literacy skills. The necessity for establishing a solid foundation for emergent literacy growth is reflected in the paper by McComiskey, who presents a multi-component readiness grid to help educators and parents arrange learning experiences to promote early braille literacy skills. Finally in this section, Craig presents research findings of a survey of parents of young children with visual impairments regarding support of emergent literacy practices in the home. He concludes: "Although parents of children with visual impairments may generally regard learning to read and write as a priority in their children's overall development, they may lack the resources and knowledge to facilitate this process."

Two articles provide rich perspectives on issues related to literacy for persons with visual impairments: one from consumers and the other from professionals. Schroeder presents the results of a qualitative research study that explored the importance and use of braille in the lives of eight adults who were legally blind. He suggests that braille is more than merely a tool for literacy but that it "was tied to their self-esteem, independence, and feelings of competence." Wittenstein and Pardee present teachers' comments that were taken from an earlier survey of attitudes toward braille. These insightful comments show positive attitudes toward braille and provide a starting point for a reexamination of the perceived decline in braille literacy.

Certainly there is widespread agreement on the essential role that meaningful literacy skills have in gaining and maintaining employment. Ryles provides convincing evidence of this in her research article, highlighting the relationship between braille and employment for adults who are legally blind.

Two articles in this special issue focus on reading rates, both braille and print. Knowlton and Wetzel present an empirical investigation of the impact of specific reading tasks-oral reading, silent reading, studying, and scanning -on braille reading rates of adults who are congenitally blind. They conclude that "reading rates are controlled by the cognitive tasks required of the reader and the purpose of the reading task itself." Fellenius presents a model of reading competence for children with visual impairments and then presents objective results on 30 school-age children who have attended low vision clinics. Her findings go beyond a simple analysis of print reading rates by including a discussion of reading media, reading interests, and functional reading activities.

The final group of articles focuses specifically on the braille code. Durre presents the results of an extensive analysis of the amount of space that is saved by using contractions and short-form words and identifies those relative few that save the most space. Two articles relate to learning the braille code. Kapperman, Heinze, Hawkins, and Ruconich describe the development and field test of "The Computerized Braille Tutor," which is a computer-based software program for use by individuals in learning the elements of the Grade 2 braille code. Emphasizing the need to continually upgrade and refresh one's braille skills, Jones and Wolffe present a statewide model for increasing the braille competence among rehabilitation teachers.

There is much more in this special issue on literacy, including a Research Note, Comments, Resources, and Random Access. We hope that the major articles along with the other features of this issue of JVIB will serve to enlighten and stimulate the reader on this most important topic.

As scholars, we hope that our field will make a commitment to the need for rigorous and sustained research on literacy issues and instructional practices. As educators, we hope that teachers at the grassroots level will constantly challenge the conventional practices and seek better ways to provide quality literacy instruction to each student or client. As professionals and humanitarians, we hope that best practices will become the norm and that no one in the field will ever accept or provide anything less than the best education or rehabilitation program for each person with a visual impairment. The status quo can be frightening if it leads to inactivity or passivity. We hope that this special issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness will have some part in fostering critical, reflective thinking and action on the part of professionals in our field.

M. Cay Holbrook, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Teacher Education, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 South University, Little Rock, AR 72204; E-mail: mcholbrook@ualr.edu. Alan J. Koenig, Ed.D., associate professor, Texas Tech University, College of Education, Box 41071, Lubbock, TX 79409-1071; E-mail: p6ajk@ ttacs.ttu.edu. Patricia Smith, Ed.D., associate professor, Department of Rehabilitation, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; E-mail: pbsmith@ualr.edu.