[blindkid] TSBVI Assessment Kit Braille Reading Rates - Revisited

b&s lanesims at gmail.com
Wed Feb 6 11:55:15 UTC 2013


I recently found this old thread about the TSBVI Assessment Kit started by Chantel and, specifically, what is the reference used to get the blind reading rates included in the Kit? After snooping around a bit I found a copy of the TSBVI Assessment Kit on Bookshare - their copy is not very reader friendly, but is serviceable for the purpose of finding the reference. As others have noted, I read no suggestion in the Assessment Kit that the blind reading rates cited should be goals or minimums, or how they should be used at all. Here is the reference cited in the text:

Specifications for selecting a vocabulary and teaching method for beginning Braille readers

Author:	Hilda R Caton; Eleanor Pester; Sharon Goldblatt
Publisher:	New York : American Foundation for the Blind, ©1979.
Series:	AFB research report

ISBN 10: 0891289712 / 0-89128-971-2 
ISBN 13: 9780891289715

From what I can tell the above book is out of print. I did however find a few copies at university libraries and I wouldn't be surprised if NFB has a copy somewhere. Anyway, I'm trying to get a copy through an interlibrary loan. When I get it, I will scan the pertinent pages and will gladly provide them to anyone who requests them. 

My suspicion is that the original information was well meaning, but has been profoundly misconstrued by a generation of educators. Regardless, basing 2013 expectations on a single second hand reference from 1979 is problematic. 

I'll post more when I get the book. 



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