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The Development of a New Standardized Test of Children's Braille Reading Abilities in Britain

J. Greaney

During the past few years, schools have received growing pressure from the British government to monitor students' academic progress and achievement more objectively and systematically. Children with sensory impairments and other disabilities that might affect the learning process will be included in an ongoing assessment and testing program. To help diagnose and remedy the reading difficulties of children with visual impairments, the Royal National Institute for the Blind is funding a three-year project at the University of Birmingham to develop a new test of children's braille reading skills. One of the most widely used tests of print reading ability in Britain-the revised version of the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Neale, 1989)will be adapted for use by braille readers. This adaptation will allow for the comparison of braille readers' achievements with those of other braille readers, as well as with those of their fully sighted print readers.

CONTENTS OF THE TEST

The revised Neale Analysis consists of two parallel forms, each containing six passages of prose of gradually increasing difficulty. The test can measure reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension and can express each score in terms of a "reading age." Comprehension ability is measured by asking the child several questions after he or she has finished reading each passage. Speed and accuracy of reading are measured simultaneously, but the nature of braille reading means that some differences in the testing procedure will need to be implemented. For example, since blind children read braille at about a third of the pace that sighted children read printed text (see, for example, Nolan & Kederis, 1969), children should have more time to recognize a braille word than they would to recognize a print word before an error is recorded.

The Neale Analysis classifies errors into six categories: mispronunciations, substitutions, refusals, additions, omissions, and reversals. The new test for braille readers will need additional categories because certain sorts of errors are unique to braille. For example, the braille for the letter e is the mirror image of i. Supplementary diagnostic tests will be developed to provide more information about the specific areas of reading difficulty, including braille-specific skills, such as knowledge of braille contractions.

PRECAUTIONS

Several precautions will need to be taken to ensure that the test is not biased against braille readers. First, the content of the passages should not be dependent on visual experience. It is also important to measure whether the parallel forms of the test are equally difficult when transcribed into contracted (Grade 2) braille. The Neale Analysis includes pictures that accompany each narrative, and these will be replaced with appropriate phrases that can be read aloud to the pupils before they begin to read the passage.

The research team at Birmingham University has attempted to standardize the Neale Analysis for most of the school-age braille users in Britain. More than 300 children aged 5-8 have been tested so far. The new braille reading test provides an up-to-date method for monitoring reading progress and diagnosing difficulties in reading. The final test will include a teacher's manual, with instructions for administering the test, interpreting the scores, and using the diagnostic information gathered.

REFERENCE

Neale, M.D. (1989). The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Revised British Edition). Windsor, United Kingdom: NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research)-Nelson.

Nolan, C. & Kederis, C. (1969). Perceptual factors in braille word recognition. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.

John Greaney, Ph.D., research fellow, School of Education, University of Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom; E-mail: J.Greaney@bham.ac.uk.