[Nfbwv-talk] Article by Tracy Carr

[Smyth, Charlene R]

The below article was in the agency newsletter for WVDRS.  

 

Charlene

 

Pilot program to increase Braille literacy 

 

The National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia will be promoting
Braille literacy across the state using grant funding from the Division
of Rehabilitation Services. Funding will be used to develop a pilot
Braille peer tutoring program. The ability to read and write Braille is
an important tool for people who are blind, helping to achieve
independence, self-confidence and productive and gainful employment. The
pilot program will utilize a small group of volunteer peer tutors to
work with a comparably small group of volunteer students during a
limited period of time. Working on such a small scale, the project will
seek to identify the most effective organizational and instructional
strategies for developing a Braille peer tutoring program on a larger
and more permanent basis. Each volunteer peer tutor is literate in
Braille and uses it on a daily basis; however, they are not trained
instructors. A training workshop will be held to help familiarize the
volunteers with some of the most effective instructional tools and
practices for teaching Braille. The ultimate goal of the pilot program
is to determine whether a volunteer-based Braille peer tutoring program
can work on a long-term basis in the state. 

 

submitted by Tracy Carr