Introduces new technologies that provide instant translation of print materials in three general categories: optical to tactile conversion of print, optical to braille conversion, and optical to speech. Talking books, voice indexing, new braille technologies, print to braille, and optical print enlargement are highlighted. A list of sources is…

This overview of the development of a system of library services for the blind in one union republic of the USSR describes the centralized network of special libraries which serve as the focal point of systems providing services at the regional and local levels, and suggests some possible future developments. (RAA)

The article identifies three approaches for the study of braille reading, describes some examples of the approaches, and makes some suggestions for future research. (Author/PHR)

This study compared the spelling of 7 students with functional blindness who read Braille with that of 180 sighted students reading conventional print. Students were in grades 9-11 and attending regular high schools in Quebec. The students with blindness were significantly ahead of their sighted peers in usage and grammatical spelling. (Author/CR)

This article highlights ideas, adaptations, and strategies that have been effective for educators teaching students with visual impairments. Strategies are shared for teaching the concepts of left and right, using alphaboxes for teaching the alphabet, using CDs for Braille reinforcement activities, and using a lawn compass to teach orientation.…

Braille literacy has far-reaching implications for the education of visually handicapped children, their eventual employment and their quality of life. The article addresses such issues as delivery of services, teacher training, non-reading blind persons, and attitudes about braille. (DB)

A program of the Finnish Central Federation of the Visually Handicapped is described. The program's aim is to provide and develop teaching materials and instructional methods to help persons who lost their eyesight as adults to learn braille. Discussed are personal tutoring, correspondence studying, regional courses, and program plans. (Author/JDD)

Reports on a congenitally blind young girl who learned to read Braille. Suggests that phonological awareness can be well developed even without word or letter experience, and the logographic phase of reading can be bypassed in favor of an alphabetic phase. Notes that her level of skill is similar to that of sighted children. (RS)

A study involving 26 Spanish students (ages 14 through 18) and teachers found that, although some Braille reading processes were similar to those of reading printed text, Braille readers did not show any sensitivity to sublexical variables or to most of the variables that were assumed to be related to integration processes. (Author/CR)

Assesses fifteen 7- to 12-year-old blind children using standardized measures of intelligence, spelling and reading. Finds they performed poorer when reading than their chronological age would predict. Compares blind and age-matched children's ability to segment heard words, which are written in Braille with and without contractions. Finds words…

Describes how a braillewriter can be used as a calculation tool for students with visual impairments who are learning mathematics. Provides strategies for teaching students to use the braillewriter in the addition and subtraction of whole numbers and numbers with decimals, multiplication, division, and fractions. (CR)

Describes the Braille Transcription Center Project, a model demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Education that produces postsecondary instructional materials in Braille. The project has links throughout a large statewide university system and provides faculty development on reasonable accommodations for students unable to read…

This article describes the Early Braille Readers Project, which provided a Mountbatten Pro Brailler and peripheral equipment to 20 kindergarteners, first-, and second graders in Texas. The project included training and support in the form of site visits and teacher training for both teachers of students with visual impairments and classroom…

The National Center for Accessible Media has developed a technology and protocol for inserting extended, enhanced descriptions of visually based concepts into artificially paused digital video. These "eDescriptions" describe material not fully explained by a narrator and provide analogies and explanation specifically designed for…

Three short articles about foreign language braille are presented for braille transcribers and teachers of the visually handicapped. Because dictionaries of languages other than English rarely show syllable division, the articles provide guidelines to the syllabication of Spanish, French, and German. The guidelines give specific rules concerning…