[Athen] So your student wants Braille

[Deborah Armstrong via athen-list]

Thoughts from an experienced Alternate Media Specialist. Lately I've encountered fake Braille readers, so am posting this.
Creating hardcopy Braille is time-consuming. We all want to serve our students best, but before you start OCRing, transcribing, editing, embossing, do these things:

  *   Figure out if the student actually reads Braille. Many folks learn basic Braille so they can take notes, track contacts and find the right elevator floor or gender-appropriate restroom. If they are truly only able to read a little bit, Braille is completely inappropriate for academic work. If they want Braille because they are "just learning it" read on.
  *   Find out what grade they can read. I've had several students who can only read grade 1 or can read grade 2 but hate UEB. Make sure you know.
  *   If they need to read something short in class, such as prompts for a presentation, or a list of items for an in-class activity, a limited knowledge of Braille will hinder them less. However their main materials should be provided as documents in Word, HTML, Daisy or whatever format they prefer. I have a hearing-impaired student who has learned only grade 1, and I give her handouts for in-class reading in Braille but everything else is a text document. She has to turn up her hearing aids to read with speech, but until her Braille is better she's stuck with that.
  *   Find out if they have a Braille display and if they like using it. If so, it's way easier to give them a BRF, Daisy, Word or HTML document, depending on what formats their display is able to read. Some have sophisticated internal software; others must be connected to a computer with a screen reader, and others do both. If they prefer hardcopy Braille, of course you need to emboss it, but check with them first.
  *   Math is the exception. It cannot be easily worked with on a single-line Braille display - most of them are - and you need to know if they know the Nemeth code or the UEB math code. Many of my Braille readers cannot read Braille math.
  *   I also encounter students who say they know Braille but don't know any punctuation marks, a clue they read it only when necessary. You can give them a cheat sheet of course, but it is likely they are reading at only 30 words a minute or less. Again this could work for a short class handout, or a table of contents for an eBook, or  a guide to the page numbers a student has to read each week. Even for myself I often emboss the table of contents for a book I intend to read with speech, and I read Braille more rapidly than most.
  *   If a student doesn't read Braille recreationally, it is likely Braille you give them for class will not be helpful. To be a fast Braille reader you must practice. Many Braille readers didn't know they were practicing as kids, because they just got in to reading good stories. But adults who lost their sight later do know it is practice, and if they are not doing it then they do not really read Braille.
  *   Be sure if they want Braille that they are signed up to receive Braille for free from NLS "The national library service for the blind and physically handicapped" which serves U.S. citizens. They offer a free Braille eReader too. Books can also be ordered five a month through "Braille on Demand" which gives them embossed copies to keep. NLS has a large collection of fiction, nonfiction and Braille music. Don't re-invent the wheel.
  *   Is the material already available or in the public domain? One of my students wanted to read some Edgar Alan Poe poetry in class. I found it already in embosser-ready format so it was easy to download and send to my embosser.

One other interesting fact: my three most skilled Braille readers actually have Down syndrome and are in a special program we have for developmentally delayed adults. Though they read at only a third grade reading level, they actually **CAN** read, I've confirmed that. They devour all the Henry Huggins, Hobbit, Dr. Seus and Magic Treehouse books I can find.

This is better than nearly all the blind adults I serve. One of them just finished reading a biography of Helen Keller out loud to her class which sparked a very informative discussion about different disabilities.



--Debee


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