[il-talk] Teachers don't bail on Braille.

[Dave Wright]

This is really great to see. Thank you Bill, for sharing this. Maybe there 
is hope for Braille after all...


Best Regards:
Dave Wright
Work Phone: 347-422-7085
Email:
dwrigh6 at gmail.com
WebPage:
http://www.knfbreader.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Reif" <billreif at ameritech.net>
To: <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 3:07 PM
Subject: [il-talk] Teachers don't bail on Braille.


> Hello,
>
> The following article appeared in today's Jacksonville Journal-courier,
> available on the web at www.myjournalcourier.com.
>
> Bill Reif
>
>
> Teachers: Don't bail on Braille
> January 17, 2010 12:00 AM
> JAKE RUSSELL
> Journal-Courier
> With advancements in text-to-speech technologies, many people in the blind
> community
> are concerned that it may undermine Braille literacy.
> Though Braille books are bulkier and more expensive, the Illinois School 
> for
> the
> Visually Impaired makes an effort to emphasize the importance of Braille
> while encouraging
> students to use assistive technologies.
> "As far as Braille reading, there are people who never read Braille well 
> and
> never
> cared to read," said Dan Thompson, assistive technology teacher at the
> Illinois School
> for the Visually Impaired. "If you want a well-paying job, you have to 
> read
> Braille.
> If you cannot read that as a blind person, I would consider you 
> illiterate.
> Braille
> is a 'must' part of a blind person's success."
> Many students come into the school who have not received Braille services 
> in
> public
> schools or only received it one or two days a week, said Darla Chambers,
> Braille
> Educator at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired.
> Chambers exposes her students to Braille five days a week, she said. She 
> has
> 21 students
> in her Braille class. About 30 more kids on campus can read Braille and 
> don't
> need
> the class.
> Braille books are bulkier and more expensive, Chambers said. One volume of 
> a
> print
> book may be six volumes in Braille, which makes it difficult to carry
> around. For
> example, the softback Braille edition of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
> Stone"
> lists for $23.75 and comes in a set of four books, while the regular
> paperback edition
> lists for $10.99.
> "Even with the new technology, people are still going to pick up a book 
> and
> read
> it, so that should be available to Braille students," Chambers said.
> While text-to-speech programs are useful, they are not always accurate,
> Thompson
> said. A student could listen to a word and not know how to spell it. There
> are also
> many incidents in which the programs pronounce the words wrong.
> "I make it a point to read," Thompson said. "You need to feel it and see
> what it
> looks like."
> For some students who come into Chambers' class later, at the age of 17 or
> 18, getting
> through the entire Braille code before they graduate can be a challenge,
> Chambers
> said.
> "It's a concern because they are relying on that technology but that 
> doesn't
> teach
> them the specific rules to write Braille," Chambers said.
> For example, the rules for contractions require certain words to be put
> together.
> A sentence that reads "and the" would have the two words together in
> Braille.
> "We've found that even some of our own students are dependent on
> technology," Chambers
> said. "They are slower at reading. That's the thing. The more you read
> Braille, the
> faster a Braille reader you will be."
> Teaching Braille depends on each student and how quickly he or she learns
> the code,
> Chambers said. A good student could learn the code in about two to three
> years.
> Some students learn Braille while they still have their vision because 
> they
> have
> an illness where they will lose their vision, said Marsha Schoth, school
> development
> director.
> Chambers' youngest student is 6 years old, Chambers said.
> "Braille doesn't change," Chambers said. "Once they learn Braille code, we
> work on
> reading and writing rates to increase those."
> Assistive technologies are important because it gives the blind a
> competitive edge
> with sighted peers, Thompson said.
> "Blind people are getting in the business of making notetakers and screen
> readers
> at a reasonable cost," Thompson said. "It gives us our independence and 
> puts
> us on
> equal footing with the rest of the world."
> Thompson's assistive technology class focuses on figuring out how to use
> popular
> modern technology, like iPhones, he said.
>
>
>
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