The use of Final-Letter Braille Contractions: A Case Study

Abstract

Louis developed a six-dot braille code in the early 1800s, thus creating an effective way for persons who are visually impaired to communicate through reading and writing (Holbrook, D'Andrea, & Sanford, 2011). Without braille, it is unlikely that students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) would experience the level of education and independence that they do today (Holbrook & Koenig, 2000). This view was echoed by Spungin (1996, p. 271): Braille is the key to information, and the ability to manage and manipulate information is essential to a person's self-sufficiency and self-esteem. Students with visual impairments require braille instruction from teachers of students with visual impairments, who are responsible for teaching direct braille literacy skills to students from kindergarten through at least the third grade (Koenig & Holbrook, 2000b). Studies have indicated that daily instruction ranging from one to two hours is critical for the development of braille literacy skills (Koenig & Holbrook, 2000a; Corn & Koenig, 2002). Consistent, well-designed reading instruction in braille is associated with the development of proficient literacy skills in children who are blind (Wall Emerson, Sitar, Erin, Wormsley, & Herlich, 2009). Reading instruction for children who are visually impaired should focus on both the literary braille code and the components of the reading process, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension (Wall Emerson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009; Swenson, 2008). Individuals tend to read braille at a slower rate than print readers read print (Wall Em erson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009; Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997; Wetzel & Knowlton, 2000). In the Alphabetic and Contracted Study, the mean of the reading speed of 20 third-grade students who read braille was 53.19 in contrast to the norm of 107 for sighted students at the 50th percentile (Wall Emerson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009; Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2006). Poor knowledge of braille contractions may hinder reading and writing fluency, which is imperative for success in school. Research has shown that students are at risk of advancing in school with poor, fragmented braille skills if they have not had high-quality instruction during their elementary school years, which may hinder their progress in all other school subjects (Koenig & Holbrook, 2000b). Therefore, continued intensive instruction in writing and reading from a teacher who knows braille is required throughout the elementary school years (Wall Emerson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009; Wall Emerson et al., 2009; Harley et al., 1997; Koenig & Holbrook, 2000a; Swenson, 1999). The purpose of the case study presented here was to increase a participant's knowledge and use of the 14 final-letter braille contractions, including the ability to identify the dot placement of the contractions, verbalize the letters that each contraction represented, identify the sound each contraction made, use contractions consistently in writing, and fluently decode words containing these contractions. METHOD Participant and setting The participant, Amy, was a 9-year-old girl in the third grade whose primary mode of reading and writing was braille. She did not have a secondary disability. In kindergarten, Amy attended a residential school for students with visual impairments and then transferred to her neighborhood elementary school at the beginning of the first grade. During the first and second grades, she was taught braille using Patterns: The Primary Program (Caton, Pestor, & Bradley, 1980). In the third grade, braille instruction initially focused on the Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science Notation. During the intervention, 4 days a week for 30 minutes, braille instruction focused on the final-letter contractions. …