American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue on Braille TEACHING
Braille Is Literacy: Putting Braille Back into the Literacy Curriculum
by Julie Majzel
From the Editor: Dr. Julie Majzel is a Curriculum Lead Teacher at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She is the primary author of The Sciences of Literacy for Teachers of Students Who Are Blind, Deafblind, or Have Low Vision. She is the mother of a deafblind teen, and she is a passionate advocate for literacy for all learners.
Early in the twentieth century, when Standard English Braille was officially adopted in the United States, blind students finally received reading and writing instruction in a consistent, fully accessible medium. It is easy to imagine that those children, their parents, and their teachers collectively breathed a sigh of relief. The “War of the Dots,” the conflict over competing tactile reading systems such as New York Point, Braille, and Boston Line Type, was finally at an end. Standard English Braille became part and parcel of literacy instruction for blind students, eliminating the need for students to learn multiple, competing tactile reading and writing systems. At last learners could focus on developing strong reading and writing skills.
However, somewhere along the way during the past century, Braille increasingly became relegated to the sidelines in schools across the United States. It was treated as a subject separate from comprehensive literacy instruction. “Braille literacy” took precedence, meaning rapid mastery of the “Braille code.” With the best intentions, teachers set about instructing students to recognize the dot patterns that form letters and contractions, often by memorizing dot numbers. This instruction primarily took place by pulling students from other classes in their daily schedules. The pull-out structure often led to missed classroom content, and inadvertently it treated Braille as a separate subject. This separation of Braille from comprehensive literacy (reading, writing, vocabulary, and reading fluency instruction and practice at all grade levels) may be a significant factor in current low Braille usage and literacy rates among students who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision.
Today a movement is emerging to reconnect Braille with the literacy curriculum, ensuring that teachers are equipped with a comprehensive literacy background and instructional knowledge. Braille is being integrated across all classes to improve literacy outcomes for students. As part of this movement, the Curriculum Department at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired published The Sciences of Literacy for Teachers of Students Who Are Blind, Deafblind, or Have Low Vision. The authors are advocating for all educators, service providers, families, and community members to embrace their unique roles in removing barriers to literacy instruction in Braille to support reading and writing skill development. We encourage the reframing of “Braille literacy” to begin thinking about “literacy in Braille.”
Braille is literacy, and all individuals who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision have a fundamental and inalienable right to high-quality, research-based literacy instruction in Braille. Braille is not just a “code” to be memorized or a tool for access to materials typically written in print. It is a unique, native system for reading and writing, and it should be celebrated and taught as such! It is essential to understand that literacy and Braille cannot and should not be separated into individual subjects, just as print and reading have never been treated as separate subjects. Learners who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision benefit from instruction in Braille in ways that parallel the benefits that Deaf students gain from the use of natural sign languages.
Supporting Literacy Development in Braille
Here are a few practical ways to support very young and emergent readers and writers (learners who aren’t yet reading and writing):
- Talk, talk, talk! Engage in conversations with learners verbally, in a signed language or system, or a tactile language modality, according to their individual needs. Reading and writing skills are developed on the foundation of language.
- Encourage scribbling and support creative spelling in Braille, using a slate and stylus, a traditional Braillewriter, or a high-tech tool such as an electronic Braillewriter, Perkins Smart Brailler, or Braille notetaker.
- Provide learners with many opportunities to interact with indoor and outdoor environments and the people, objects, and animals within them.
- Create Braille-rich environments by labeling objects at home (such as appliance buttons, storage boxes, shampoos, and soap bottles), in the car, and at school. This mirrors the immense amount of print available incidentally in the environment.
- Make sure children have access to Braille and mixed-media (Braille and print) books. Check out NFB’s Braille Resources page to find out where to order free Braille and print/Braille books.
- Read aloud to children every day and discuss the features of the book you read (e.g., title, sentences, paragraphs, author, etc.), while also discussing the meaning of what you’ve read.
- Model reading and writing in Braille.
To support beginning through advanced readers and writers:
- Provide lots of opportunities for rich experiences in the community. The understanding of complex texts is built on the background information learners gain from such experiences.
- Continue with all of the suggestions for emergent readers, including reading aloud. Even high school students enjoy being read to when the reader is animated, and when learners are engaged in a discussion of the reading.
- Ensure that Braille is being used everywhere, including in every class—not just in language arts—and during every lesson with service providers.
- Create authentic opportunities for learners to read and write in Braille, using up-to-date technology (e.g., online chats with friends and emails written and read on refreshable Braille displays).
- Encourage daily reading. Even twenty minutes a day of fingers on Braille while reading for pleasure will help improve reading skills and encourage a lifelong love of reading.
- Ensure that blind students have access to daily, structured literacy instruction in Braille to develop spelling, grammar, and formatting skills, rather than relying solely on screen readers and audio information.
- Offering an introduction to Braille to parents/classroom teachers/peers can also support literacy engagement for readers.
In summary, what we know about teaching literacy in Braille revolves around the idea that Braille and literacy cannot be separated. Therefore, learners benefit when educators receive substantial training in the sciences of human development, including learning and reading and writing acquisition. In addition, we must embrace Braille as an authentic, stand-alone system for reading and writing rather than a code for print. It takes a village to raise readers and writers. Let’s all do our part!
To dive deeper into these strategies and explore the research-based framework for this approach, you can order a copy of The Sciences of Literacy for Teachers of Students Who Are Blind, Deafblind, or Have Low Vision through the online store at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, https://www.tsbvi.edu/product/the-sciences-of-literacy-for-teachers-of-students-who-are-blind-deafblind-or-have-low-vision.