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The Braille Literacy Crisis for Children

L.Johnson

Much is being said these days about the current "braille literacy crisis." Parents, teachers, and students are beginning to recognize that there is a problem when many visually impaired children are no longer learning to read and write braille. Several theories for the decrease in braille literacy have been proposed, including the following:

1. Braille is obsolete. Because of advances in technology, visually impaired children can get all their information from recorded tapes, talking calculators, and other listening devices.
2. Teachers are not qualified to teach braille. Teachers of visually impaired students should be required to take braille competence tests to prove they know braille.
3. The braille code is too difficult. It should be simplified so that braille is easier to learn.

I will address these ideas one at a time.

NEED FOR BRAILLE

If we were to propose that sighted children no longer needed to learn to read and write, that they could get all their information from radio, television, or tapes, the idea would be rejected immediately. Visually impaired children are no different in that respect. The ability to read and write is absolutely essential if we expect them to become self-supporting in their adult life. I believe the idea that visually impaired children do not need literacy comes in part from the idea that visually impaired people will always be helpless and dependent. In addition, many people do not want to spend the time and money it takes to teach visually impaired children to achieve literacy.

COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS

Teachers of visually impaired students have to pass braille competence tests to complete their college training. The problem is not that teachers do not know braille; it is that, with the current emphasis on placing visually impaired children into regular classrooms with sighted students, teachers who know braille are not teaching children who need braille. More and more, teachers who know braille are working in residential schools teaching multiply disabled students who cannot learn to read, and students who need braille are being placed in public school classes where braille is not taught. In such classes, an itinerant teacher comes by once a day, three times a week, or less often to teach the child to read. The idea that a sighted child could learn to read by being exposed to print once a day or three times a week would be rejected immediately. Yet many visually impaired children are being placed in regular classroooms where they cannot see what is going on and no one knows braille. Itinerant teachers, with typical caseloads of 25 to 30 students, do not have enough time to spend with individual students to teach them to read, so the students are given tapes to enable them to keep up with the curriculum. This problem is not limited to reading; it also affects other skills the child should learn, such as the abacus, slate and stylus, and independent living skills.

A SIMPLIFIED BRAILLE CODE

We already have a simplified braille code. It is called Grade 1 braille, or alphabetic braille. Unfortunately, few teachers want to use it. I believe there are two reasons for this. One is the idea that visually impaired children must keep up with sighted children at all costs. In the beginning, it appears to be faster to start out in Grade 2, and teachers do not want to take the time to build a foundation in Grade 1. Reading is difficult enough to learn without beginning in a system that adds over 400 extra rules to the process. Children who start out in Grade 2 braille often never learn to read well because they never learned proper language patterns before being given shorthand.

Another reason for resistance to Grade 1 braille is the Patterns series (American Printing House, 1982). Patterns is an excellent system for teaching Grade 2 braille from an elementary level. The quality of the program gives teachers the idea that Grade 2 braille is the only way to go. I believe that what we need is a program in Grade 1 braille of the same quality as Patterns that can be used before a child is introduced to Grade 2 braille. When a child has learned to read fluently in alphabetic braille, he or she can breeze through the Patterns series and have an excellent foundation for reading. An extensive study has been done in Canada, which details the effectiveness of teaching Grade 1 braille before introducing Grade 2 (Troughton, 1992). For many students, Grade 1 provides the "simplified braille code" currently being discussed.

THE REAL PROBLEM

I believe that the idea of integrating visually impaired children into regular classrooms is a good one. Unfortunately, as in many other areas of life, you can get too much of a good thing. Many visually impaired children do well in a fully integrated program. Many other children who benefit from being integrated in classrooms with sighted children also need daily contact with a teacher of visually impaired students in a resource room. I believe that we go too far if we insist that all children attend their neighborhood school, even at the expense of their education. Surely we can arrange it so a child can be home at night and yet attend a classroom more designed to fit his or her needs.

The idea of "least restrictive environment" does not just refer to the physical place where a child is educated. It also involves the freeing of the mind by giving a visually impaired child the best education possible. To achieve that important goal, it is absolutely imperative that the child be allowed, encouraged, and expected to learn to read and write.

REFERENCES

American Printing House for the Blind. (1982). Patterns. Louisville, KY: Author.

Troughton, M. (1992). One is fun: Guidelines for better braille literacy. Brantford, ON: Dialatype.

Louise Johnson, M.Ed., teacher of visually impaired students, Utah School for the Deaf and Blind; mailing address: 560 West 800 North, Pleasant Grove, UT 84062; E-mail: Louise.Johnson@M.k12.ut.us.