Blind students can be mobilized in time for school work and are able to perform at the level of their sighted peers

by Rania Chiourea, PhD

Teacher for the Blind

School Counselor/Inspector

The findings of a study change the regard for the blind, for the nature of their difficulties and for their learning possibilities. This study demonstrates that failure during basic learning at school results mainly from inadequate teaching methods, rather than the deficits of blind. It also shows that through appropriate teaching most blind students can be mobilized in time for school work and are able to perform at the level of their sighted peer.  

A lot of people presume that blindness (or the presence of another disability) automatically limits the child's ability to learn like others. Consequently the law requires that services be provided to help compensate for the child's limitations, the child's deficit. Of course the hope is that special education services will make a difference, but the underlying assumption is that the blind child will always be behind, unable to keep up and forever denied true equality, true integration.

Blind children suffer gaps in literacy, in math and science and, more troubling still, gaps in confidence and hope for a productive life. Therefore, research in blindness all over the world is aimed, at developing and assessing new methods for the rehabilitation of the blind, through assistive technologies, rehabilitation services, training, and education. Contribution to this research is a study accomplished in Greece on that purpose, approved by the University of Geneva. (Chiourea Urania, 2008, «Evaluation d’une méthode d’apprentissage du Braille chez les élèves aveugles de la 1ère année scolaire, en Grèce») .

In Greece, a significant proportion of blind children, with no other disabilities, have historically had serious difficulties mastering letter/character identification in Braille, which disabled them for all other aspects of reading. In addition, the teaching strategies for the blind were linked with the educational system applied to sighted pupils. Therefore, a new method (NM)  has been developed over many years of studying the case, specifically to meet the learning needs of blind children.  The major emphasis was to reinforce reading and writing skills at the beginning levels. Thus the aim was to ensure the development of basic reading ability (decoding symbols and understanding meaning) until blind pupils have gained sufficient elements of the Braille code and decoding techniques, which will enable them to read and understand material transcribed from books for the sighted. As a result, they would be able to follow the mainstream class independently and  many of the specific difficulties due to the nature of the Braille code could be overcome.

Studies in the areas of  Braille reading, cognitive development of the blind child, tactile perception, and teaching approaches were reviewed and used to create the following components of the new method:

1) Preparation of the blind child for Braille: Adequate training prior to reading.

2) “Pupil’s Bulletin”: a diagnostic instrument of the child’s reading and writing readiness

3) Re-organization of the sequence of letters so they become more appropriate and effective for learning by touch.

4) Selection of vocabulary related to the concepts, the skills and the background of experiences of blind children, helping them to develop decoding and comprehension skills.

5) Use of pictures in relief, as an alternative tactile training opportunity, as a motive for discussion as well as making the lesson more appealing to children.

6) Distribution of content in small sized books with a few pages, so that the book is less heavy and more approachable for a 6 year old child. 7) Worksheets that accompany the textbooks, involving different skills and exercises.

In this study the empirical evaluation focuses on the comparison of student performance among:

 a) blind pupils trained with the NM

b) blind pupils trained with the old method (OM) and c) sighted pupils.

Four hypotheses are tested: The application of the NM:

1) improves learning

2) reduces the time required to complete the learning  

3) reduces the difference in reading and writing ability between sighted and blind pupils

4) will allow blind pupils to progress more than those trained with the OM during the six years of primary school.

The sample of pupils selected for the research consisted of 96 blind by birth pupils with no additional physical, sensory or mental impairment and 161 sighted classmates of the blind in the integration classes. All pupils were in first grade of primary school in Greece.

Observations took place during the second school term (December-February) and the third (March-May).

Student performance in reading, writing, and text-comprehension as well as the degree of motivation to learn were compared among the three groups.

The findings show that the specific approaches of the NM to modify and increase the performance have been successful for all Braille beginners. The pupils also expressed more desire for learning and self confidence, probably due to experiencing significant progress with the NM from the beginning. Furthermore, the median time required to complete the learning of the Braille alphabet was reduced by more than half. However, further research is needed to access the NM as a teaching tool, and to develop more basic principles for preparing pictures in relief in order to improve their quality for presenting tactile information in the most clear and concise manner for the blind student.

The most promising effect of this study on the education of visually impaired is perhaps that the results have changed the regard for the blind, for the nature of their difficulties and for their learning possibilities.

This study demonstrates that failure during basic learning resulted mainly from inadequate teaching methods, rather than the deficits of the blind. It also shows that through appropriate teaching most blind students can be mobilized in time for school work and are able to perform at the level of their sighted peers in reading and writing.

The conclusion is that the struggle for equal opportunity is urgent in the education of blind children. The schools must be held accountable for providing the tools and training to enable blind children to achieve on a basis of equality with their sighted peers. On this purpose the law secures for every blind child the right to literacy, and that means the unquestioned right to learn and use Braille.

But this is not enough. We still need more:

- well-trained teachers of blind children, and well-prepared to teach blind children to read and write Braille.

- new technology that will enable blind children to compete in all subjects, especially in science and math.

- meaningful research that supports the full integration of blind children into society on terms of equality.