This Mattered to Me

Abstract

Increasing the Braille Reading Rate, by Emerson Foulke, published in the October 1979 issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, Volume 73, Number 8, pp. 318-323. Although I have been a braille user for a long time, it was not until I began my doctoral program at the University of Arizona that I could examine the technical aspects of braille, including its acquisition, instruction, and construction. My dissertation topic, which was directly related to instructional braille methods, provided me with many opportunities to study and gain a deeper understanding of braille. My personal interests as well as my professional inquiries combined to prompt me to search for ways in which braille reading speed could be improved, but there were very few studies aimed at increasing braille reading speed. Furthermore, it was very difficult to comprehend the complex perspectives of the topic, recognizing that numerous factors would be associated with the query. An article by Emerson Foulke about increasing braille reading speed gave me the framework in which to approach the topic. The article I chose to highlight in this essay was one of the first to summarize the findings of previous studies on increasing the speed of braille reading and offer practical applications. By contrasting the differences between visual and tactual reading, Foulke viewed braille not simply as a code, but as a tool to facilitate reading for people with visual impairments. More important, Foulke suggested ways in which the theories outlined in the articles he summarized could be implemented in practice. FOULKE'S VIEW OF BRAILLE Foulke saw reading behaviors and perceptual ability of readers as two of the biggest obstacles to increasing braille reading speed. It is not surprising to modern readers that the importance of proper hand movements, appropriate mechanical skills, and constant and fluid touch skills have been regarded as crucial factors in braille reading. Perceptual ability relates to potential modifications of ways in which braille text is being displayed. Foulke also perceived that using all fingers in the braille reading process would assist in improving reading speed. Furthermore, he proposed alternative methods of presenting braille characters, such as presenting braille characters in columns. Foulke examined changing the braille code as a viable option for improving the system and outlined a blueprint for making modifications to it. Since 1979, much has changed. There are now more people with visual impairments whose needs for braille are functional. …