[nfbmi-talk] Improving Braille Reading Speed

[trising at sbcglobal.net]

     Here are instructions for improving your Braille reading speed.
1. To improve your Braille reading speed, at first, use hard copy Braille. Sit at a desk so that you can use both hands. Use all six 
fingers, except for your pinkies and thumbs. Index fingers give you the details, but the other fingers give you the shape of the 
words. Fast Braille and fast print readers do not read letter for letter. Both recognize words as a whole, either by sight or under 
the finger tips. If you only read letter for letter, your speed will be slow and comprehension hindered. At first, other fingers may 
not recognize much, but if you keep them in contact with the Braille as often as possible, they will start to contribute. 
Individuals who insist on reading with one finger will not develop significant speed.
2. Keep palms off the paper! Read as if you had a soft ball under your palms. Dragging palms or arms will slow you down. Another way 
to think of the hand position is like you were playing piano. Braille is not read with flat fingers. It is read just behind the 
tips, but not on the pads of the fingers. Fingers should be slightly rounded and be placed close together.
3. Do not move your lips. Fast readers read in their heads. You can still audiate what you read but it should be in your head rather 
than out loud.
4. As I said before, keeping in contact with the Braille as much as possible will make you faster. When you reach the end of a line, 
the right hand should read the last word while the left hand tracks back on that same line and drops down to the next. You give the 
left hand more work because left hands are generally more sensitive. Think of your hands as a husband and wife. They like each other 
most of the time, and then they have a spat. They get some space for the length of a word and then join together again to work 
together to read most of the line. This just makes you faster.

I hope this helps. Please contact me if you need further assistance.

Sincerely,
Terri Wilcox
Secretary, National Federation of the Blind of Michigan
Ann Arbor Chapter President