[Ohio-Talk] Braille reading speed and when you learned Braille

[Jessica Stover]

When I was at the Louisiana training center for the blind, my braille
instructor would do speed tests about once a month. I began learning
braille as an adult. We had home work every night. Factor in an hour of
class time and and hour or so of homework each night and weekends. It was
intense. She had us on slate and stylus for most of our writing assignments
and using the braille writer or braille display was a privilege/rite of
passage but now, I’m so good on the slate and no longer dread using it!
The speed reading tests were done by having one read out loud and then
silent. She would also grade us on a few other areas such as comprehension
questions after each read and pacing/fluidity when reading out loud.
I started at 20 words per minute out loud  and 25 silent. 9 months later At
graduation I was at about 60 words per minute silent and I think about
45-50 words per minute out loud.
Now, since being back I have not tested myself again but I can tell my
speed has increased because before I know it, bam I’m already on a new
page!
I need to ask my Braille instructor exactly how she calculated everything.
She told me but I can’t quite remember. I know she’d have us read out loud
for four minutes then silent for four minutes. Also, we’d do this four
times read out loud and silently on a familiar text and then read out loud
and silently in an unfamiliar text. Sometimes my nerves would get the best
of me but it was fun to see how far I have come since learning braille at
LCB!
I would say that learning braille as an adult can be challenging because
there are so many factors that come into play but, with hard work and
determination, it can be done.

On Mon, Mar 20, 2023 at 6:35 AM Cheryl Fischer via Ohio-Talk <
ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> No, I've never been tested on my Braille reading speed. I doubt many people
> have.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of marianne
> denning
> via Ohio-Talk
> Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2023 5:13 PM
> To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement List' <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: marianne at denningweb.com
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-Talk] Braille reading speed and when you learned Braille
>
> Have you been tested on both? I think many people struggle when they read
> out loud. When I was in college I wanted a good reader and I worked with
> several people who couldn't read well out loud. That certainly didn't mean
> they weren't good silent readers.
>
> Thank you for sharing this.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cheryl Fischer
> via Ohio-Talk
> Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2023 4:11 AM
> To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement List' <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: c16a19f at sbcglobal.net
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-Talk] Braille reading speed and when you learned Braille
>
> There is a big difference in my case between my Braille reading speed when
> reading silently to myself and trying to read out loud. I learned Braille
> at
> age 19 and I am a pretty fast Braille reader, but the flow of my reading is
> awkward when I try to read unfamiliar material out loud and with
> expression.
>
> Cheryl
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Paula Jordan
> via
> Ohio-Talk
> Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2023 12:24 AM
> To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement List' <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Paula Jordan <paujor at roadrunner.com>
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-Talk] Braille reading speed and when you learned Braille
>
> Hi Marianne.  I learned Braille as a young child.  I consider myself a
> pretty fast Braille reader, But that's subjective.  Is there some way to
> test speed?  Never thought of that.
> God bless!
> Paula and The pups
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of marianne
> denning
> via Ohio-Talk
> Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2023 3:57 PM
> To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement List' <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: marianne at denningweb.com
> Subject: [Ohio-Talk] Braille reading speed and when you learned Braille
>
> I have 2 questions for people. There is a discussion on another NFB list
> about learning to read Braille as a child verses an adult. Did you learn to
> read Braille as a child or as an adult? Do you know your reading speed? If
> you feel more comfortable sharing this information privately please email
> me
> at
>
> marianne at denningweb.com
>
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-- 
Braille and technology committee chair: National Federation of the Blind
Greater Akron