Week 4: July 21-27

Core Curriculum Unlocking the Foundations of Reading
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  1. Examine the implications of the study’s findings for educational practices concerning literacy instruction for students who are blind. How might educators integrate these findings into their approaches to braille instruction? What do you think might happen if local or federal policies mandated specific literacy practices for braille reading students?

The National Reading Panel (NRP) “identified five key components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension of text.” The authors note that “instruction needs to focus on reading processes, regardless of the specifics of how the braille is introduced…to increase braille reading efficiency is to focus classroom instruction on decoding and reading connected text.”

Over the past few weeks I’m learning more about the challenges facing a TVI and the strategies each of you implement to help students become more successful. However, if there is a team the work can be spread out to expand the student’s opportunities for practice, learning background knowledge or vocabulary as each team member has a different perspective to share. As discussed, about Scarborough’s Reading Rope, every chance a teacher or team member can help to strengthen those strands the better the chance for the student to succeed.

The TVI has the knowledge from the different assessments (whether using the ones mentioned in the article or other assessments) completed with the student helps to provide the team with the strengths and areas of need for the student. Then the team can focus on teaching the student what they need to learn and not repeating something they already know. Many of you have mentioned when reflecting on teacher expectations that when those expectations were high the individual often worked to meet those goals.

The article indicated that reading instruction should include the five key components mentioned in the article and that “early introduction of braille contractions may allow beginning readers to take in larger chunks of text at a time and thus help them to process information faster, as well as to prevent familiar words from being taught in two different forms.” Additional education may be needed for some members of the team on why the contractions are needed and maybe how to help reinforce them when the other team members are working with these students.

Briefly looking up the braille contractions made me think of how sighted people use letters in the texting today. Since I’m not super savvy with social media and using texting I find that I’m often having to look-up the meanings of so many abbreviations used for texting.

Regarding local or federal policies mandating specific literacy practices for braille reading students - each student is different and from my own experience working as an OT, LVT, my instruction changes with the individual. So I think that if a mandate were implemented the success of the students may be impacted. Often mandates don’t allow any freedom or leeway to adapting material to best fit the student’s learning at that specific point in time.

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To promote awareness and implementation of best practices of not only font legibility but good design practices for students I include links to Google Tutorials and YouTube videos when contacting teachers about my student’s Accommodations/ IEP. If we are fortunate enough to get to meet as a team, I typically do a quick inservice that includes explanation, examples, and the tools available to them to use when designing lessons. I have found that a “before and after” example helps teachers see how little changes make a big impact. We talk about how good design helps everyone, not just my learner to help shift the mindset away from “but it is only one student!”. Showing the difference between a common PDF and an OCR’d PDF usually helps seal the deal for both font readability and layout/design.

I also encourage Teachers to apply the concepts to their presentations- be it limiting the “fun color” dry erase markers (I have been known to swap out lime green and orange!) or designing their Slides/Powerpoints.

One of the most impactful activities I include in the discussion is having the teachers use whatever technology the kids have- phones, Ipads, and especially CHROMEBOOKS! Most are surprised how difficult it is to read materials on a Chromebook especially when presented through some of the learning platforms like GoogleClassroom and Canva.

I feel that with the digital push, districts need to address inclusive design principles in teacher inservice. I have found most teachers are willing to apply them if they only knew how- especially at the ground level of development. Many teachers have been in the classroom while technology entered and have not received adequate training to meet the expectations for it’s basic use and have not had the spoons to explore what it can do for them. With the training, districts would not have to fall back on a policy as it would become common place. Where I wish I could make a policy change is Teacher’s Pay Teachers… I would love to clear out their font closet!

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@ sharon. clark “If a school adopts inclusive design principles for printed materials, it may not be the best fit for a specific student.”

Inclusive design principles help students at least enter the race, tweaks may still be needed for individual learners but the hurdles may be much more manageable!

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Hi Virginia,
I also mentioned the impact of lack of exposure to environmental print in my response to this week’s article and discussion board post. I agree that the article left us, as VI professionals, with more questions than answers, at times. You posed some insightful questions, and it just goes to show that the research in our field is lacking. This was one of my motivations for obtaining my doctoral degree! I do think that, based on the research, more could be done to ensure students who are blind have appropriate access to braille instruction; I agree that educational mandates might not make sense in practice. There seems to be a significant push towards Science of Reading (SOR) mandates, so it will be interesting to see what the outcomes and unintended consequences are. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. ~Lacey

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Shannon Pruitt
Week 4 Responses

  1. Examine the implications of the study’s findings for educational practices concerning literacy instruction for students who are blind. How might educators integrate these findings into their approaches to braille instruction? What do you think might happen if local or federal policies mandated specific literacy practices for braille reading students?

Based on this article, it is obvious that more research needs to be done in this area. As stated in the article, many teachers use their own personal philosophies when teaching to determine if a student will learn contracted or uncontracted braille. Additionally, various curriculums available to TVIs (Teachers of the Visually Impaired) may introduce the contractions in different orders. Some teachers may also introduce the contractions as they see fit or assume is most useful for the student. This results in a non-standardized approach.

While as professionals we always aim to provide individualized support and instruction, it would be beneficial to have the research and backing to say explicitly and without a doubt that there is a better or best method and sequence for introducing contractions. The order could be based on the student’s reading score levels from various tests. Therefore, I think it would be helpful to have locally or federally mandated policies or “best practices” for teaching reading to braille students. This would provide TVIs with more evidence-based support for the need for involvement in “core” reading instruction, not just braille.

In terms of the implications and integration of these practices, the sooner contractions can be introduced, the better. Additionally, knowing that when students reach the more advanced skills needed for reading, they will likely need more intervention than their sighted peers, it is crucial to have a standardized approach in place.

  1. How do the assessment methods and protocols described in the ABC article align with your current practices for assessing the literacy skills of students who are blind or visually impaired? Are there any adjustments or enhancements you would consider based on the study’s findings?

Based on the assessment methods described in the ABC article, my current practices mostly align with those in the study. I use many of the updated editions of the same assessments mentioned in the study. When teaching braille, I typically introduce contractions immediately after the student learns the letters. However, there is at least one instance where I have primarily kept a student using uncontracted braille. My decision in this case was based on my best professional judgment because the student is not a native English speaker.

The student is learning English, but she is also a fluent Spanish speaker who does not read any Spanish. As she has been learning English, she has also been learning braille and learning to read in English and some Spanish. Spanish is very important to her, and in researching Spanish braille, I found that they do not use contractions. I wanted to avoid overwhelming her with the additional cognitive load of contractions while she is also learning English. It’s a complex situation, and I am using my best judgment.

  1. Generalize how evidence from research be applied to students with central and peripheral vision loss as it relates to accessing digital literacy.

I assume we are supposed to respond to this question based solely on the research presented in this article. If this is the case, then it appears to me there is little evidence for only a few areas that can be generalized and applied to students with central and peripheral vision loss as it relates to digital literacy. Based on this article, they indicate that “legibility of print appears to be dependent on subjective preference and comfort” and “appropriate magnification…can enhance the reading performance of individuals with low vision.” Noted preferences in the article include “the use of a sans serif typeface, in no smaller than a 12-point type font, in bold-face.”

However, a more recent article by Susana Chung, which can be found here (Reading in the presence of macular disease: a mini-review, 2020), indicates that “attempts at improving reading speed by reducing the crowding effect between letters, words, or lines; or optimizing properties of typeface such as the presence of serifs or stroke-width thickness proved to be futile.” Furthermore, she goes on to say that “the most promising method to improve reading speed for people with macular disease is training, including perceptual learning or oculomotor training.”

Taking both of these articles into consideration as well as the information presented in the module, when a student has a peripheral or central field loss, it is certain that the span or number of letters and words they can take in can be significantly reduced. Since the size, font attributes, and contrast largely differ and are subjective by student, the best evidence that can be generalized is to use technology and digital materials to allow the student to make the changes they prefer and for them to practice with those accommodations in place so that they can be more comfortable and successful with reading.

  1. What steps could you take to collaborate with colleagues, administrators, and support staff to promote awareness and implementation of best practices for font legibility to support students with low vision in the classroom? Should local school districts adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials? Why or why not?

Personally, I do believe that local school districts should adopt inclusive design principles for all students, not just low vision students. In the post-COVID era, I think most teachers have adapted to the increased use of digital materials. Even when materials are used in the classroom, they are often available to the students via cloud sharing or LMS systems so the students can access them. However, even though these materials are now more often online, teachers continue to lack an understanding of whether these materials are indeed “accessible.”

That being said, with the update to ADA requiring all materials to be accessible, I think (and hope) we will start to see a decrease in the number of digital materials that are not accessible. In the meantime, I find it helpful to share resources with administrators and staff members on universal design and creating accessible materials. I have conducted in-person trainings, but most recently, I have created digital courses that staff members can take. Education is key, and sometimes it is as simple as pulling up the scanned PDF the teacher shared and showing them what the screen reader reads… which is nothing. Or pulling up an inaccessible PowerPoint and an accessible one and showing them the differences in how a screen reader reads the two.

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  1. Examine the implications of the study’s findings for educational practices concerning literacy instruction for students who are blind. How might educators integrate these findings into their approaches to braille instruction? What do you think might happen if local or federal policies mandated specific literacy practices for braille reading students?

Two major takeaways from this article were: 1) learning braille contractions early is essential (introductions of contractions early … associated with higher literacy performance…") and 2) the need for increased vocabulary practice ("vocabulary appears to be an area in which students who are blind struggle as they get older). I would share these with all educators working with my blind students as well as integrating specific reading needs as assessed for an individual student. As sighted readers vary in their reading skill inventory so do blind students so individual assessments need to be conducted as well.
What is not addressed in the article, and may be a factor, is which curriculum was being used. I would be interested in which curriculum produced the best outcomes and share that too. I use 4 different braille curriculums according to my student’s needs and often cross them to give additional practice where there is deficits and most curricula does not provide enough practice in specified areas. In addition, is there a difference when a student is assessed using Known contractions rather than the either/or of contracted of uncontracted. That also, may give different results.
I am not sure what would happen if mandated literacy practices for braille readers is implemented but I suspect there would be some concerns as to validity, research to back it, and how to best procure results. I believe we have proper assessments for students who are blind but wonder just how influential those assessments are in the larger scheme of grading and/or addressing deficits? If the assessments validate specific literacy practices for braille readers, and we have the research to support best practices, then we SHOULD have a federal policy. I, unfortunately, do not possess enough knowledge to make a claim for or against. I do think braille readers should be compared with their peers - both sighted and blind.

Finally, I really appreciated the video on hand movement. In my training it was stressed that using two hands was always better than one (unless, as in my case, you have a one-handed braille reader). But the two-handed approach was never really investigated as thoroughly as in the video. That information should be shared with educators as well to help monitor and/or prompt the reader when needed.

I think I ended up with more questions and possible research ideas than answers…

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Hi Ann,
As you and others have mentioned, it seems the consensus is that local or federal policy changes or mandates regarding specific literacy practices for braille reading would hinder or eliminate the professional judgment of the teacher of students with visual impairments. It could affect the braille teacher’s discretion to adapt materials to best fit the student’s learning needs.
Your response had me thinking about the Cogswell-Macy Act, and whether such provisions were included it in. Here are the act’s intended outcomes for students who are blind or have low vision: Visual Impairment and Blindness – Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act

I particularly like the idea of establishing a national collaborative research center to foster research in the field and encourage the development of best practices. This is a huge need as we continue to discuss reading research as it pertains to our specific population of students.

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In reading this article and addressing the font issue, I aligned the type of font to use with the type of reader - similar to the font SIZE. It would definitely be a trial and error sort of assessment to see what the reader responds best to. We use ‘dyslexic’ fonts with our students with that disability, but not all of them are benefited from them. I have low vision student who prefers Tahoma over Ariel or Times New Roman. I find the older I get (and with an astigmatism) I like let curvy letters. So a design principle would need to be fluid to match the user.

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In addition, (and maybe a little off-topic) but I think everyone that uses Word to create materials should know a little on how to make it accessible using the accessibility tool. I find this helpful when my teachers want to give me something last minute and it needs to be accessed via computer (or refreshable braille). When we remove much of the ‘clutter’ and non-essential items from the printed material, the student can focus in on what is important. I agree that students should have tactile/tangible access to all materials but we know that rarely happens all the time.

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  1. Generalize how evidence from research be applied to students with central and peripheral vision loss as it relates to accessing digital literacy. As stated in “The Legibility of Typefaces for Readers with Low Vision: A Research Review,”
    Previous research on the legibility of typefaces and psychophysical variables
    related to it has suggested that certain characteristics can affect legibility and
    reading acuity for both sighted readers and those with low vision (Arditi, 1996;
    Arditi, Knoblauch, and Grunwald, 1990; Legge, Rubin, and Luebker, 1987;
    Tinker, 1963). A study by Chung in 1998 measured the effect of print size on the reading speeds of persons with typical peripheral vision using unmodified fonts, displayed in high contrast on a monitor. Results showed that a larger font size was required for maximum reading speed in peripheral vision than central vision. We can take this information and understand that when accessing digital material for visually impaired students we can enlarge the size to at least 16-18 point type depending on the individual needs of the student. As for the font type there have not been any significant types of font that works better than others. The best fonts have been determined based on usability characteristics such as even spacing between letters, no serifs, wider letters, rounder letters, and larger punctuation marks. Based on research the better fonts to use with visually impaired students are Ariel, Helvetica, Veranda, and Adsans are more readable than New Times Roman. We can take this information to our VI students teachers to assist in academic planning and material adaptations. By using these fonts and font sizes it can increase reading performance and legibility for students with visual impairments.
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You have definitely hit the ball on the head [or whatever that phrase is ;-)] in your post when you say that if teachers make documents more accessible from the outset it benefits all types of learners and reduces time spent making changes. In this world of technology-based curricula, I still get taken aback at the beginning of every school year when I realize there is still so much to do in teaching the teachers how to do this. Universal design principles really do support everyone - unfortunately, not everyone sees this idea as such.

Like you, I do also tend to start with basic principles and findings in making suggestions for my learners who need adaptive materials. From there, as you said, we can make more specific suggestions as needed. While I realize that I am only one fish in the proverbial sea working with many general educators concurrently, the more I try to educate about creating academic materials accessible and inclusive for all students (present and/or future). As an itinerant teacher, I have been attempting to be more proactive towards the end of the school year in talking with teachers so as to give them a heads up as they work on new material for the next school year. I really like your idea of creating a file of handouts to pass along to teachers with specific examples of what may be difficult to adapt (and how long it may take to adapt), so they have concrete examples of the time (and money) goes into making such adaptations.

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  1. What steps could you take to collaborate with colleagues, administrators, and support staff to promote awareness and implementation of best practices for font legibility to support students with low vision in the classroom? Should local school districts adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials? Why or why not?

As humans, we learn by doing. While there are a variety of steps than can be taken in order to ensure proper typeface, professional development opportunities and points of collaboration should involve elements that are hands on instead of “sit and get” methods. By having opportunities from hands on experience developing legible and readable type face for students with visual impairments, classroom teachers will have more background knowledge and experience when asked to modify something of theirs within the classroom.

As my district’s assistive technology specialist (and TVI), I often work with classroom teachers and other school staff on a variety of ways in implement forms of assistive technology for students. Altered typeface is often something we touch on. On the TVI side, I will often go in depth. Regardless, these opportunities often come with prepared hand outs with various fonts, sizes, etc. I often try to do this with vision simulation goggles on as well. Once teachers and staff see a simulation, they are often more inclined to help alter material (not always but often). Once they ahve seen the material through the simulators, we go into methods to alter the materials. We will often stick to fonts that are sans serif (ones without the little lines). We learn which fonts this often applies to as well as methods to increase spacing between letters and lines for more access. I have found that once teachers and staff have a basic idea of what to do and where as well as examples to refer back to they are more willing to adjust what is needed without support.

As far as should schools adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials; I believe that schools should do this as they need to shift toward universal design and universal access methods for learning. While these methods are not going to work for all students, they will give more access to students that before. While these principles are needed, we cannot disregard the importance of the FVA and LMA for students with visual impairments. These assessments give educational teams valuable information about a students’ functional vision within the educational setting. Additionally, these are something that need to be done more frequently than the ETR/Tri-annual evaluation. As students progress through the educational system, their needs change over time.

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100% we need to adpot more Universal Design practices! We also need to teach ALL staff how to implement these practices… not just Special Education staff for the classroom teacher that has a student with a visual impairment. By giving adopting these methods we can promote access for a very wide range of students. Like you, it also blows my mind every school year the amount of electronic documents that are inaccessible. It also blows my mind the amount of staff that do not/will not teach their class(es) how to use district provided tools, such as Google Read&Write, Equatio, OrbitNote, etc. While these tools do not work for all of our students, the wide range of features and settings do capture the wide majority of students. This is often a bigger problem in my area when kids are in 4th/5th grade and higher when more than one teacher is involved. On some teams, there may be one teacher who is all in on making things accessible while the other(s) just sit there and refuse. Those that refuse often complain that their entire class is not meeting goals and benchmarks. It would be really nice if districts would implement district wide policies that promoted the use of Universal Design and the tools that districts have provided to increase access. While my district is implementing some of these policies, they are not moving fast enough. I hope the increase of these polices continue so all students can get what they need.

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Theresa, I appreciate your questioning the fact that the type of braille curricula materials was not addressed in the article reading, as I, too, often find myself utilizing several different braille curricula programs while working with my students. As you stated, some students may need additional practice in certain areas - but not one program necessarily addresses such deficits. So, in turn - additional curricula is necessary. I oftentimes find it difficult to determine which program may be best for any one of my students learning braille. Being able to have access to multiple options is a plus - but, because not all the braille programs teach the same concepts in the same chronological way, I also find being able to switch between multiple programs brings on a whole other level of time-consuming factors.

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I agree with you regarding the need to educate the general educations teachers on using fonts that are visually accessible for our VI students. So many teachers love to be fun and creative using the “cute-sy” fonts and colored papers. Many teachers also will add colors to the fonts which can become even more visually confusing for our students. I understand they are trying to make the worksheets fun and engaging but they do not realize what a non visually impaired student can see well is not the same for a visually impaired student. When I meet with the general education teachers to discuss my VI students accommodations I have found that giving them font size and font type examples to be very helpful. I have a charts showing what specific fonts and sizes look like so they can use this as a reference when preparing classroom materials. Many of my gen ed teachers appreciate this and it helps them understand better when they have a visual to refer to. So much academic content is created digitally so changing fonts and sizes is quite easy. Our district has many UDL educational materials but a lot of the general education teachers are unaware that these exist. Once they are shown what they are and how to use them many of my gen ed teachers will use them for many of their other students and well as my VI students. So I definitely agree with the importance to educate our teachers, schools, administrators, and parents on the use of fonts, sizes, colors and UDL materials.

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I also feel that one thing not expressed in the article was the use of a braille curriculum. I have not taught a braille student for a few years (I currently have not braille readers in my district), but when I did teach braille we were using several different pieces and parts to various published curriculums. I needed to do this as the student I was working with had different areas of struggle (like all students). However, I tried to keep one curriculum the “main braille curriculun” and then supplement from other curriculums.

Another thing not expressed in the article was the access to braille instruction and its frequncy. Due to the lack of TVI’s, I am going to assume there are students who are learning braille who do not see their TVI frequently enough. I, personally, feel that students learning braille need to be seen at least 1x per day and it needs to be a mixture of 1:1 and push in servcies in te classroom.

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How do the assessment methods and protocols described in the ABC article align with your current practices for assessing the literacy skills of students who are blind or visually impaired? Are there any adjustments or enhancements you would consider based on the study’s findings?
I must say that I enjoyed the ABC article and found it very enlightening. There are some practices that I currently use and there are several I will now implement. Some of the things I have done is have the students who are adept with contractions read back to me often and we strive for fluency, or I should say prosody. Incidentally, this student (a transfer student) is adept at identifying contractions in isolation but has problems recognizing them in passages and the comprehension of the passage. I am such a stickler for reading, every gen ed student I visit, I usually take a discarded book I have picked up along the way and ask them to read a passage to me (low vision alike). I also teach ABC braille, for currently most of my braille kids are pre k and functional skills. I think the decision on when to teach contractions should depend on how rapidly they pick up the ABC braille. What I will now do, is make sure I at least start my pre k student with the contraction of sight words as soon as he learns his letters. Also, I will continue to have vocabulary as our focus and build the lessons around this. Since this appears to be an area blind students struggle in. Finally, it is disheartening that our braille readers who start out well, fall behind after 2nd grade or so. What is this special training that helps improve reading speed that the authors speak of, or is it simply practice?
Faye Thomas

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I agree. It takes a team approach to teach reading. TVI’s teach braille, but need collaboration from general education teachers to facilitate the reading process. It would be interesting to see a similar study for older students especially if they have learned the entire braille code. Reading speed is essential to maintain fluency and obtain comprehension. I agree that it is probably not a wise idea to mandate specific literacy practices since our students who are learning braille have unique needs and the individuals who design these mandates typically are not up-to-date on current practices. In the classroom. For example, a few years back I was on a board to assist in creating new braille code to help the students learn the various layouts for documents such as print size, color of print, and the various type forms used throughout. Keep in mind that this was prior to the Unified English Braille Code. While I could see why others would find it useful for a student reading braille to know this information, I disagreed with having the students learn new symbols just to know what color the printed material was. Others thought this information would be useful because the classroom teacher could then just say “Find the word in blue.”, but I could not see spending time to teach student additional code and slowing down their reading because they now would have to bypass this information when reading.

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I agree that there may be less hurdles if school districts adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials, but I do not want to see that school only use what is adopted rather than tweaking it to accommodate students’ unique needs.

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  1. What steps could you take to collaborate with colleagues, administrators, and support staff to promote awareness and implementation of best practices for font legibility to support students with low vision in the classroom? Should local school districts adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials? Why or why not?

As an itinerant teacher working in several districts, conversations about the upcoming school year with colleagues, admins and support staff typically begins prior to the end of the current school year. In order for me to determine who I need to touch base with (if known) to start the wheels turning for accessibility to print materials from day 1 of the new school year for my students. Thankfully, since COVID, many of my districts utilize Google Classroom, so I try to make sure I have access as an additional teacher to the teacher/classroom online (which usually requires me to talk with IT/admin to get permission to do so as a contract teacher). As part of my beginning conversations with teachers/staff, I try to include information about specific fonts/sizes on any worksheets they may be creating/re-doing over the summer (so that they don’t have to re-do them at the beginning of the school year), and the time I may need to spend on adapting them may be slightly lessened. In mentioning specific fonts and font sizes, I also try to reiterate the idea of universal design practices to the teams of teachers/staff, so they may (hopefully) begin to realize just how these ideas may be inclusive and beneficial for all students (current and future).

While I do believe it would benefit school districts to adopt inclusive design principles for printed materials, I honestly do not know how time-consuming and/or how costly it may be for school districts to implement such a request/requirement. I imagine many classroom teachers may use the same materials from year to year, especially if they have been teaching the same subject/grade level for several years. In this case, it may require the teacher to spend just as much time revamping their “tried and true” material/activities as it would for them to create brand new curriculum materials/activities. If the district is able to provide some initial training/workshops to teachers/staff members on how to begin to implement these principles into their curricula materials, most likely, teachers may be more willing to commit to using them moving forward in their classroom materials/activities. It goes without being said that making such changes does also require time and energy, oftentimes, at the cost of teacher/staff personal time (outside of working/school hours). Should the district allow teachers/staff to use professional development hours/days to implement these universal design practices, the overall backlash some teachers/staff may initially object to in making universal design mandatory in districts may be diminished. In the end, whether districts impose universal design practices (specifically for font typefaces and font sizes) onto an entire district or not, the article reiterates several times how beneficial such practices are for all students – and I tend to agree.