[blindkid] Question: Braille Displays or Paper Braille for Increased Reading Speed?

Anjelina Cruz anjelinac26 at gmail.com
Tue Jul 16 20:11:01 UTC 2013


Allison,
Thanks for posting this question! This is something I have also
pondered. Since I grew up reading mostly hard-copy Braille until
receiving a Braille Lite in junior High, making the transition to
primarily reading with a display has taken some effort. While it may
be psychological, I believe I can read faster reading paper Braille.
This has prompted me to challenge myself to read books only with my
BrailleNote's display.
This may be a silly question: Do students still receive their books in
hard copy Braille? Or is there a trend toward reading books on
Notetakers?
I have enjoyed reading and learning more about how Braille, no matter
its format,  is positively impacting childrens lives.

On 7/16/13, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org> wrote:
> I would suspect the opposite is true. A braille display has the same
> "spacing" between every line. (no space, you just return left) so you never
> loose track of the next line and you don't have to really find it with your
> left hand. Some readers like the shorter travel of a 20 character display,
> so much so that some wider displays will let you limit the width of the
> display to reduce the area you have to travel.
>
> I know some readers who prefer the narrow displays. Our daughter much prefer
> the wider one. Books are however they are; no control.
>
> Also, there are no pages to turn, no additional volumes to access to change
> parts of book or even whole books. Some displays allow you to change the dot
> height, and there are never issues with ghosted text from old compressed
> pages. Pages don't get torn and the comb binding never lets pages fall out
> and get lost or reassembled incorrectly.
>
> I can't speak for others, but I'm certain my daughter, a fast braille reader
> herself, is much faster with a braille display than with braille on paper.
> Surely speed on either medium would increase with use over time however.
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 16, 2013, at 3:29 PM, Allison Hilliker wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>>
>>
>> I had a question that came to my mind due in part to the fascinating
>> Braille discussion we've had on this list lately. Do you know if Braille
>> format has any impact on Braille reading speeds and fluency? In other
>> words, is one more likely to increase their reading speed by using
>> hardcopy Braille as opposed to a Braille display? Or does Braille reading
>> speed simply increase with practice regardless of how one gets their
>> Braille? Are your kids/students increasing reading speeds through their
>> displays or do they still use hardcopy a lot when learning?
>>
>>
>>
>> I ask because an NFB member who is also a Braille instructor once told me
>> that It is harder to increase reading speed using a Braille display than
>> it is using paper Braille. Does anyone know if this is true?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Allison
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
Anjelina




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