[blindkid] I'm writing a research paper and need help

Kathy B burgawicki at yahoo.com
Thu Apr 7 13:05:20 UTC 2011


Thank you to all who responded to my need for info for my research paper.  I 
will let you know what grade I end up getting.

Kathy




________________________________
From: Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Fri, April 1, 2011 2:14:14 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] I'm writing a research paper and need help

I agree. And while it  may be beyond the scope of the topic for the paper which 
started this thread, any chance to get people to understand that for children 
who are likely to need braille later in life, such as low vision kids who may be 
able to "get by" for now without braille, but with a reasonably  high 
probability of progressive vision loss as they get older, it can be super 
important to get those kids  learning braille as early as possible.

I have talked with a number of blind adults who are braille readers. They're are 
all able to read well, but they can only read so fast. In every case I know of 
like this, they lost vision later in life and therefore, learned to use it later 
in life. Young kids, just learning to read, who learn braille seem to have a 
great advantage in learning braille quickly and learning to read it well and 
rapidly.

This is a great reason not to delay in teaching low vision kids braille, but 
from what I hear, it generally is met with some resistance by many school 
systems which would just as soon avoid adding another child to their TVI's 
student list.

On Apr 1, 2011, at 1:34 PM, Bo Page wrote:

> Along these same lines, a person who becomes blind as an adult, Braille may
> not be an option because their fingers may not be able to read the Braille
> dots because they may have become calloused, for example.  Young children
> who begin working with Braille right away develop more sensitivity in their
> fingertips and become quite adept at reading braille with two hands.  I
> believe I read someplace once that some of the brain neurons that would
> normally go to the visual cortex in the brain of a sighted person get
> redistributed to the fingertips in a blind person. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Richard Holloway
> Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 12:37 PM
> To: empwrn at bellsouth.net; NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of
> blind children)
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] I'm writing a research paper and need help
> 
> First of all, I agree entirely. Nothing is more important for my daughter
> than braille. She reads and writes well above grade level and reads and
> writes more often than any child her age I have ever known. (She is eight.)
> She just happens to be blind... 
> 
> I just loaded 12 new braille books onto her BrailleNote this morning,
> ranging from  Carlotte's Web to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe...all
> the the way up to a couple of Harry Potter Books. I cannot help but look at
> this from the other side a bit. I'd suggest the question might not be "why
> do we need braille" so much as "why would we not need it?"
> 
> As to resources, the thing that keeps coming to my mind is that I would
> check with the NFB National office. They often refer to information at
> conventions and in literature which makes me think they have specific
> numbers and percentages of the blind population which is braille literate. 
> 
> They also often tell how of the blind adult population, a vastly greater
> ratio of braille literate blind people are employed as compared to those who
> cannot read braille. This is really just a discussion of literacy in general
> which needs to be adapted for the mechanism used to read.
> 
> Get the figures above and compare them to the sighted population's numbers.
> Some sighted people cannot read and they must then rely on other sources for
> information, be that the TV or Radio, recorded books, or someone reading
> things to them. I don't think it would be hard to convince most people that,
> as a whole, those sighted people are less successful and productive members
> of society as compared to sighted literate people. So it is then with the
> blind, from pre-schoolers to students to adults. One key reason my daughter
> does so well with braille is she was learning it so early in life. I believe
> she was coming along very well with her braille by at least age three.
> 
> There is one third sub-group, if you will. Low Vision. That is where it gets
> fuzzy because some people with low vision have no (or minimal) problem(s)
> dealing with print, while it is nearly impossible for others and there is a
> whole spectrum in between the two. My thought is that some of that
> population really needs braille and some may not benefit so much from it
> (however I don't think it is EVER a bad thing to know). One sometimes
> overlooked aspect of the low vision discussion is also that a good many of
> that population are likely to have further vision loss at some point in
> their lives and they would then shift across that spectrum from braille
> being somewhat helpful to it becoming more and more so, right up until they
> cross a somewhat  fussy threshold-- once they can no longer make practical
> use of print at all.
> 
> Maybe someone else here can suggest a good contact at the National Office to
> get some of those figures? Or perhaps there are already reports and articles
> available with that?
> 
> Richard
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 1, 2011, at 10:10 AM, Marie wrote:
> 
>> Great thesis, Kathy! I don't think you'd find anyone on this list who
> would disagree. Smile. I wish I was aware of specific references for you. I
> don't but I did want to thank you for picking this particular topic although
> it may difficult for you to find specific references other than the
> observations of parents, children, and adults. Hopefully your paper will add
> to a growing body of papers on the topic!
>> 
>> Marie
>> 
>> 
>> Marie (mother of Jack, born May 2005)
>> Check out our blog at http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com for
> glimpses into our busy life with a boy who is busy growing and developing in
> his own way in his own time
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Kathy B <burgawicki at yahoo.com>
>> Sender: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:20:55 
>> To: Carol Castellano<carol_castellano at verizon.net>;
> <BVI-Parents at yahoogroups.com>; <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Reply-To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,
>>     \(for parents of blind children\)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: [blindkid] I'm writing a research paper and need help
>> 
>> Hi All-
>> 
>> I am writing a research paper and am looking for information to support my
> 
>> thesis.  Can any of you point me in the right direction?  Below is my
> thesis. 
>> Carol, I included you specificly because I can use expert opinion, and I 
>> consider you an expert. 
>> 
>> 
>> Even though  technology is so advanced that some believe braille reading
> for the  
>> blind is no longer needed, reading it is indeed important and essential
> for 
>> both blind children and blind adults: this form of reading expands a  
>> vision-impaired person's world. In fact, reading for the blind also
> increases 
>> creative and critical  thinking and plays a huge role in helping blind
> adults 
>> contribute to  society.
>> 
>> Thanks!!
>> 
>> Kathy
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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