[AERNet] braille instruction

[cmlien at juno.com]

This is a very good question you bring up, Shelley! I think that many of
us have come across a situation such as this at least once, if not more
times. Research has shown that if a "dual reader" is to become proficient
in braille, this student needs a large commitment of time to devote to
braille instruction. So my questions would be: Is this student and
his/her parents and classroom teacher and the braille instructor willing
and able to devote the huge amount of time and effort that are required
for proper braille instruction on the possibillity that braille may be
needed in the future? Will the student be willing to put in the practice
time? Will this take away from the time and effort that is needed for
this student to become a proficient print reader? If the teacher and
student are only able to commit a short amountof time and practice to the
study of braille, the student will not become a proficient braille user.
That is just a fact. Also, if the student does not keep up with his/her
use of braille, whatever he/she has learned will be lost over time
anyway. This is also a fact. So in my opinion, the choice is this: Either
decide to put in the huge amount of time, effort, and resources that are
needed to learn braille proficiently and to keep up with it, or wait
until there is an actual need, or at least until the need seems to be
more imminent.

There have been studies published in the JVIB on the subject of dual
readers within the past few years. I encourage you to look them up on the
AFB web site and see what these researchers have to say about what is
involved in teaching dual readers.

Candy Lien, TSVI
Braille Teacher and Consultant
ND Vision Services/School for the Blind