[nfbmi-talk] osip guidence on braille

[joe harcz Comcast]

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES 

U.S. Department of Education seal.June 19, 2013 

Dear Colleague, 

For decades, Braille has been a key tool for literacy for many blind and visually impaired 

individuals. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA or Act),1 in section 

614(d)(3)(B)(iii), specifically addresses a public agency’s responsibility to make 

provisions for Braille instruction in educating blind and visually impaired students. This 

requirement states that, "in the case of a child who is blind or visually impaired, [the 

Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team must] provide for instruction in Braille 

and the use of Braille unless the IEP Team determines, after an evaluation of the child's 

reading and writing skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media (including 

an evaluation of the child's future needs for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille), 

that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for the child." In the 

1997 reauthorization of the IDEA, Congress added this requirement to ensure that blind 

and visually impaired students are provided the Braille instruction that is necessary for 

them to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). It was retained without 

change when the IDEA was reauthorized in 2004.2 This requirement applies equally to 

children who need Braille instruction when they enroll in kindergarten, as well as to 

children who will benefit from Braille instruction because they face the prospect of future 

vision loss later on in their educational careers. 

1 Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §§1401, 1411-1419 (2004). 

2 The IDEA Part B regulation in 34 CFR §300.324(a)(2)(iii) incorporates this statutory requirement 

verbatim. 

3 Blind and visually impaired students are also protected by two other Federal laws: Section 504 of the 

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), which prohibits disability discrimination by entities, such as 

public schools, that receive Federal financial assistance (29 U.S.C. § 794, 34 CFR part 104); and Title II of 

the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Title II), which prohibits disability discrimination by public 

entities, including public schools, regardless of whether they receive Federal financial assistance (42 U.S.C. 

§§ 12131-12134, 28 CFR part 35). The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education 

enforces Section 504 in public schools and, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, enforces Title II in 

public schools. Information about OCR enforcement is available on OCR’s website at www.ed.gov/ocr. Despite this requirement, one of the most serious concerns voiced by parents and 

advocates of blind and visually impaired children is that the number of students receiving 

instruction in Braille has decreased significantly over the past several decades. As a 

result, these individuals believe that Braille instruction is not being provided to some 

students for whom it may be appropriate. The purpose of this letter is to provide 

guidance to States and public agencies to reaffirm the importance of Braille instruction as 

a literacy tool for blind and visually impaired students, to clarify the circumstances in 

which Braille instruction should be provided, and to reiterate the scope of an evaluation 

required to guide decisions of IEP Teams in this area.3 This letter also identifies 

resources that are designed to help strengthen the capacity of State and local personnel to 

meet the needs of students who are blind or visually impaired. 

Background 

In the fall of 2010, nearly 30,000 of the students served under Part B of the IDEA were 

reported as having “visual impairment including blindness” as their primary disability, 

(approximately 0.07% of the total school population4). The population of children who 

receive services under Part B of the IDEA due to blindness or visual impairment is 

extremely diverse. These children display a wide range of vision difficulties and varying 

adaptations to vision loss. With regard to the degree of vision loss, the student 

population includes persons who are totally blind and persons with minimal light 

perception, as well as persons with varying degrees of low vision. With regard to 

adaptations to vision loss, persons with similar degrees of vision loss may function very 

differently. A significant visual deficit that could pose formidable obstacles for some 

children may pose far less formidable obstacles for others. This is because adaptations to 

vision loss are shaped by individual factors, such as availability and type of family 

support and the level of the child’s intellectual, emotional, physical, and motor 

functioning. 

4 Source: www.ideadata.org; see also 34 CFR §300.8(c)(13). 5 Bell, E. C. & Mino, N. “Blind and Visually Impaired Adult Rehabilitation and Employment Survey: Final 

Results.” Journal of Blindness, Innovation & Research, Vol.1, No.1 (2013): Accessed April 8, 2013. 

See www.pdrib.com/pages/researchreports.php. The challenge for educators of blind and visually impaired children is how to teach skills 

that sighted children typically acquire through vision. Blind and visually impaired 

students use a variety of methods to learn to read, write, and acquire other skills. For 

reading purposes, some students use Braille exclusively; others use large print or regular 

print with or without low vision aids. Still others use a combination of methods, 

including Braille, large print, low vision aids, and devices with computer generated 

speech, while others have sufficient functional vision to use regular print. 

Despite the wide range of vision difficulties and varying adaptations to vision loss in the 

population of blind and visually impaired students, Braille has been a very effective 

reading and writing medium for many of them. Research has shown that knowledge of 

Braille provides numerous tangible and intangible benefits, including increased 

likelihood of obtaining productive employment and heightened self-esteem.5 Given these 

benefits, it is important that States and their public agencies ensure the appropriate 

implementation of the IDEA requirement regarding Braille instruction. 

Other IDEA Requirements 

In implementing the IDEA requirement regarding Braille instruction, the following 

additional IDEA requirements are applicable. Under IDEA, each State and its public 

agencies must make FAPE available to children with specified disabilities residing in the 

State in mandatory age ranges through a properly developed IEP. Each child’s IEP must 

include the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services 

that are necessary to ensure each child’s meaningful involvement and progress in the 

general education curriculum offered to nondisabled students. 34 CFR §§300.101, 

300.201, and 300.320-300.324. 

Under 34 CFR §300.304(c)(4) and (6), an evaluation must assess the child in all areas 

related to the suspected disability and must be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all 

of the child’s special education and related services needs. Also, under 34 CFR 

§300.304(c)(1)(iv), any assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a child 

must be conducted by trained and knowledgeable personnel. 

Instruction in Braille and the Use of Braille 

IEP Teams must ensure that children who are blind or who are visually impaired are 

provided with the Braille instruction they need in order to receive FAPE and to ensure 

their meaningful access to the general education curriculum offered to nondisabled 

students. To this end, IEP Teams for blind and visually impaired students should 

consider each child’s need for appropriate Braille instruction on an individual, case-by-

case basis, and without undue delay. Systematic and regular instruction from 

knowledgeable and appropriately trained personnel is essential for a child to become 

proficient in Braille. IEP Teams must ensure that the instructional time allotted for 

Braille instruction is sufficient to provide the level of instruction determined appropriate 

for the child. For example, if a particular student has little or no skill in Braille reading 

and writing, the IEP Team may conclude that frequent and intensive instruction in Braille 

likely would be necessary to enable the student to have meaningful access to the general 

curriculum. 

Scope of Evaluation Related to Braille Instruction 

The IDEA requires that Braille instruction must be provided to a child who is blind or 

visually impaired, unless the IEP Team determines, based on an evaluation of the child's 

current and future reading and writing needs, that Braille instruction is not appropriate for 

a particular child. Generally, determinations regarding the components of evaluations for 

particular children are matters within the purview of State and local officials. The 

evaluation of vision status and the need (or future need) for Braille instruction should be 

thorough and rigorous, include a data-based media assessment, be based on a range of 

learning modalities, including auditory, tactile, and visual, and include a functional visual 

assessment. An assessment of a child’s vision status generally would include the nature 

and extent of the child’s visual impairment, and its effect, for example, on the child’s 

ability to learn to read, write, do mathematical calculations, and use computers and other 

assistive technology, as well as the child’s ability to be involved in and make progress in 

the general curriculum offered to nondisabled students. Such an evaluation generally 

would be closely linked to the assessment of the child’s present and future reading and 

writing objectives, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media. The information 

obtained through the evaluation generally should be used by the IEP Team in determining 

whether it would be appropriate to provide a blind or visually impaired child with 

instruction in Braille or the use of Braille as required by the IDEA. Factors, such as 

shortages of trained personnel to provide Braille instruction; the availability of alternative 

reading media (including large print materials, recorded materials, or computers with 

speech output); or the amount of time needed to provide a child with sufficient and 

regular instruction to attain proficiency in Braille, may not be used to deny Braille 

instruction to a child. Rather, it would be appropriate to deny Braille instruction to a 

child only when the child’s IEP Team, based on the results of a thorough and rigorous 

evaluation, determines that instruction in Braille would be inappropriate for that child. In 

addition, because the evaluation also must assess a child’s future needs, a child’s current 

vision status should not necessarily determine whether it would be inappropriate for that 

child to receive Braille instruction while in school. This is particularly true for a child 

with a degenerative vision condition who may have a high degree of functional vision 

when the evaluation is conducted. The evaluation of such a child would need to assess 

whether, despite the child’s current vision status, the child still could benefit from Braille 

instruction while in school to increase the likelihood that the child will obtain productive 

employment and be able to participate more fully in family and community life. 

Office of Special Education Programs’ Investments and Supports 

A. Personnel Preparation 

To help ensure that children with blindness and visual impairments receive appropriate 

services, evidence-based interventions, and appropriate materials and media, including 

Braille and Braille instruction, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special 

Education Programs (OSEP) awards competitive grants to support university programs 

that prepare teachers of students who are blind or visually impaired. During Fiscal Year 

(FY) 2012, OSEP invested approximately $18.6 million of discretionary grant funds 

specifically to improve services and results for children who are blind or visually 

impaired. These funds supported a variety of personnel preparation and technology 

projects to increase the numbers of certified and licensed professionals with the unique 

and specialized skills necessary to support the education of students with blindness and 

visual impairments. OSEP funds personnel preparation programs for teachers of blind or 

visually impaired students, Braille teachers, and orientation and mobility instructors. 

OSEP requires these personnel development programs to include curricula and 

coursework in Braille and Braille instruction. 

B. Accessible Instructional Materials 

OSEP also funds technology investments that promote the development, demonstration, 

and use of technologies that provide students with print disabilities equal access to the 

general education curriculum through collaboration with various industry, educational, 

and consumer collaborators. These funding opportunities are designed to help strengthen 

State and local capacity to meet the educational needs of children who are likely to 

experience vision loss later in childhood or early adolescence. 

Additionally, OSEP supports several initiatives to promote timely access to accessible 

instructional materials for blind and visually impaired students. The National 

Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) is a national repository that makes 

National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)6 files available for the 

production of print instructional materials in specialized formats. The NIMAC receives 

files in NIMAS format from textbook publishers, State educational agencies (SEAs) and 

local educational agencies (LEAs), and makes these files available for download in a 

variety of specialized formats, such as Braille, audio, or digital text, on behalf of 

elementary or secondary school students who are blind, are visually impaired, or have 

other print disabilities. Consistent with the IDEA requirements for SEAs and LEAs to 

make accessible instructional materials available to persons who are blind, are visually 

impaired, or have other print disabilities, all States must adopt NIMAS; however, SEAs 

and LEAs may choose, but are not required to, coordinate with the NIMAC in carrying 

out this responsibility.7 

6 NIMAS describes the minimum standard that SEAs and LEAs must meet in order to comply with their 

responsibility under the IDEA to provide instructional materials to blind persons or other persons with print 

disabilities. See sections 612(a)(23)(A), 613(a)(6), and 674(e)(4) of IDEA. 

7 For more information regarding NIMAS and NIMAC, go to www.aim.cast.org. 8 For further information about Bookshare, go to www.Bookshare.org. 9 See 20 U.S.C. §§101-106a (2009); See also www.aph.org for further information. SEAs and LEAs are encouraged to access Bookshare, an online, accessible, digital library 

that allows students to access a large and diverse collection of titles for school or pleasure 

reading including textbooks, literature, leisure reading, reference materials, newspapers, 

and magazines. Students can read multimodally (e.g., see and hear words as they are 

being read and highlighted) and download reading materials to be used with other 

technologies such as personal computers and cell phone devices.8 In 2007, Bookshare 

received a $32 million five-year grant from OSEP to provide free access for students with 

a qualified print disability. 

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) provides a direct 

appropriation to the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) to produce and 

distribute books and other educational materials for students who are blind.9 SEA 

representatives may order Braille textbooks from APH at no cost. In 2012, APH offered 

955 unique products designed to assist with the education of students who are blind or 

visually impaired. 

Conclusion 

Braille is a very effective reading and writing medium for many blind and visually 

impaired persons, and research has shown that knowledge of Braille provides numerous 

tangible and intangible benefits.10 Therefore, it is imperative that IEP Teams for blind 

and visually impaired students provide for instruction in Braille and the use of Braille for 

those students, unless, based on a thorough and rigorous evaluation, the IEP Team 

determines that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for a 

particular student. 

10 Bell & Mino, op.cit. 

We hope this information is helpful in clarifying the application of the IDEA 

requirements regarding Braille instruction for children who are blind or visually 

impaired. Thank you for your continued interest in improving results for children with 

disabilities. 

Sincerely, 

 Melody Musgrove SignatureTable with 2 columns and 2 rows  Melody Musgrove, Ed. D. 

Director, 

Office of Special Education Programs 

Michael K. Yudin 

Delegated the Authority 

to perform the functions 

and the duties of Assistant 

Secretary for Special 

Education and 

Rehabilitative Services 

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