The transition to life after high school for students with disabilities and the vital role that school counselors have in assisting the students and their families to achieve success are discussed. As there may be unique requirements for these students in making this transition, it is important that school counselors are acquainted with particular…

Introduction: This study examined the effect of an animal-assisted humane education course on the knowledge of students about caring for dogs physically and psychologically and making informed decisions about dog ownership, including working dogs. Method: This collaborative action-research study employed case study design to examine the effect of…

Introduction: This study explores blind users' unique help-seeking situations in interacting with digital libraries. In particular, help-seeking situations were investigated at both the physical and cognitive levels. Method: Fifteen blind participants performed three search tasks, including known- item search, specific information search, and…

This paper reports on the design, development, and evaluation of an online e-learning tutorial system to instruct pre-service special educators in Malay braille code. The technological pedagogical content knowledge framework (TPACK) was employed to integrate expertise in content, pedagogy, and technology to design and develop this system. A…

Introduction: This study investigated the perceptions and practices of teachers of students with visual impairments in Canada and the United States regarding graphics (both tactile and print) that are used by students with visual impairments. Questions focused on quality, importance, and instruction in the use of graphics. Methods: An electronic…

In this article the authors will outline and describe the recent implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB) in Australia's complex school systems. The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (NSW/DEC) played a leading role in the process. The education sector at all levels in Australia appears to have embraced the introduction…

Educators and children with congenital deaf-blindness experience major challenges in building interactions that are reciprocated and sustained. Studies have shown that affect attunement and sensitive responsiveness are crucial for a child to feel recognized and for synchronizing early conversations. The authors previously presented the Diagnostic…

The association made between the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of a word has been shown to help children remember the meanings of words. The present study addressed whether the presence of a target word in Braille during instruction facilitated vocabulary learning more efficiently than an auditory-only instructional condition. The authors…

Previous research has suggested that the use of the fingers may play a functional role in the development of a mature counting system. However, the role of developmental vision in the elaboration of a finger numeral representation remains unexplored. In the current study, 14 congenitally blind children and 14 matched sighted controls undertook…

There are many techniques for communicating with individuals who are deaf-blind. In Japan, another technique, known as fingerbraille, is also used. Fingerbraille is a tactile method of communication that is based on Japanese braille script. This article introduces the reader to the history of the development of this communication technique and to…

A review of multiple online courses at one institution was conducted by a skilled screen reader user for the purpose of assessing the extent to which the courses were navigable and understandable to online students using assistive technologies. This paper identifies features of online courses that may present problems for screen reader users and…

Blind people can learn to understand speech at ultra-high syllable rates (ca. 20 syllables/s), a capability associated with hemodynamic activation of the central-visual system. To further elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying this skill, magnetoencephalographic (MEG) measurements during listening to sentence utterances were cross-correlated…

Industrialisation and mass education have long been considered two main determinants in the emergence of special education, but in many formerly colonised countries, such as Taiwan, historical development did not follow along these lines. In Taiwan, schools for the blind were initially set up by missionaries and colonisers, and were primarily…

Introduction: Digital textbooks are increasingly marketed and used, yet little research examines this medium. Within the limited research, even less investigates the role of digital textbooks in mathematics--a challenging content area for many students, but especially for students with visual impairments. Methods: Through a qualitative analysis,…

The aim of the present study was to compare the types of exploratory procedures employed by children when exploring bidimensional tactile patterns and correlate the use of these procedures with the children's shape drawing performance. 18 early blind children, 20 children with low vision and 24 age-matched blindfolded sighted children aged…