Studies show that assistive technology tools have provided opportunities for the visually impaired in some developed countries to pursue mathematics programmes and foster inclusive education. However, their counterparts in developing countries sparingly participate in any mathematical activity due to low knowledge and use of these tools. The main…

Twenty-one children ages 6 through 13 were taught to use their hands independently when reading braille to determine how this pattern of hand movements affected reading variables, excluding character recognition. The results strongly suggested that skill in tracking and use of an efficient hand movement pattern is closely tied to perceptual…

Considers how blind children do not receive exposure to environmental print and do not generally learn to recognize written letters of the alphabet prior to schooling in Braille. Concludes that letter learning is a major contributor to the development of phonological awareness in blind children. Suggests key similarities in the underlying…

Fifty-one learning disabled elementary students received reading instruction with a braille phonics approach. (CL)

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…

Three tables present data from 22 braille-reading blind children, ages 6 to 12, including demographic data (such as years of braille use, IQ, age, hand movement type, and reading rate); highest and lowest reading rates, by years of braille instruction and IQ scores; and oral reading rates. The methodology used is suggested for teachers doing…

A 3-year study involving 15 teachers and 15 students with visual impairments (grades K-4) evaluated the impact of the Mountbatten Brailler when used in a literacy instruction project. Teachers reported students were more motivated to write when they used the Mountbatten Brailler than when using the Perkins Brailler. (Contains 3 references.) (CR)

The reading performances of fifteen blind readers and fifteen sighted readers were compared by evaluating the reading performances of each reader reading at instructional level from Lippincott's "Basic Reading Series" and from Form A of the "Gray Oral Reading Test." Nine matched pairs of subjects read at grade one first reader level and six pairs…

Conducted two experiments to investigate phonological and tactual coding in Braille reading by blind children. Results revealed a phonological effect in blind children's reading of single words. Also direct lexical access, from tactual input, proceeded with the same facility for the blind as does visual input for the sighted. (Author)

Four children with cerebral visual impairment caused by periventricular leukomalacia were followed for two years during their process of learning to read in mainstream classes. Two of the children were offered both Braille and print reading as reading media. The other two children read ordinary print without special teaching. Differences in…

Teachers from a residential school (n=30) and a public school district (n=13) that serve children with visual impairments read scenarios of children with various eye conditions and abilities, and chose a primary literacy medium for each child. The teachers differed in their attitudes toward the use of braille. (Author/CR)