Braille Literacy: Insights from a Michigan Home School

Three-year-old Vivian Brown is easy-going, playful and creative. Like most children, she loves to have her Mom read to her. Along with her older brother and sister, Vivian receives a lot of attention from her mother. Elizabeth (Beth) Brown, 41, Williamston, Michigan, has a Masters degree from Western Michigan University, and was an outpatient master's level psychologist for thirteen years. Though she was passionate about her practice and enjoyed every day with her clients, she put her career on hold in 2002 to homeschool her children. For the past seven years, Beth also taught the Bradley Method of Husband-Coached Childbirth classes and enjoyed helping couples experience the joy of pregnancy and birth. She recently discontinued this job as well, preferring to devote more time to her family. She strives to make her family more self-sufficient and to have God and her family at the center of everything she does. Her responsibilities include daily Bible study and tending a backyard farm where the family raises chickens and grows fruit and vegetables. She also participates in community activities such as scouting, Christian Service Brigade/Girls of Grace and her daughter's dance program as well as numerous church ministries. She enjoys camping and working with llama fiber, needle felting and sculpting. She is also learning to play the piano.

David Brown is Beth's best friend and husband of eighteen years. With her encouragement and support, he runs his own business, Capital Wallcoverings LLC, and also does computer consulting and telecom wiring and set-up. The couple places a high value on reading, both individually and together as a family. It is not surprising then that little Vivian has long since learned which books to bring to her mother – the big ones with the raised dots.

While she was pregnant, Beth's mother was in an auto accident caused by a drunk driver, and Beth was born legally blind. Though she had limited vision and initially wore glasses, she has had only light perception since late elementary school. Braille, which she began learning at age three and a half, is the primary tool that allows her to be successful.

You might wonder how a blind mother can read to her sighted children. There are several sources for purchasing and borrowing "Print/Braille" books and several types. In one style, a page of Braille is next to each print page. Some have a line of print above the corresponding line of Braille. Board books, which Beth prefers, , use clear Braille labeling tape on the sturdy pages allowing the sighted child to read along and see the pictures, while the parent reads the same text in Braille. The Brown's have over seventy books from Seedlings Braille Books for Children: Http://www.seedlings.org

Beth, who is especially partial to this nonprofit, served on their board of directors for six years.

The National Braille Press offers a Book of the Month club: http://www.nbp.org/

Print/Braille books are available on loan from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS): http://www.loc.gov/nls

A Vital Tool which is being Neglected

When Beth was a child, she was fully mainstreamed in the Livonia, Michigan public schools. She had teachers who encouraged her to read Braille and directed her life toward independence. A resource room helped with reading things aloud, assisting with library research, translating her Braille work to print and brailing other classroom material. Her mother learned Braille as well.

"My mom needed to Braille things for me for both school and for outside activities such as the script for the school plays I was in," Beth explains, "She needed to see how Braille could work for me at home so I might learn to cook and clean, increasing my independence as an adult. My family needed to make a commitment to try to see how I needed things done. Braille learning seemed to help with this. It was so important to me that my two best friends, who were sighted, taught themselves Braille, and they put notes in my locker just like all the other kids did, and I got cards in Braille for my birthday."

Even as a teenager, Beth was helping other blind people get the most out of life. She was the first blind person in Michigan to earn the Gold award, the highest given to Girl Scouts between fourteen and eighteen years of age, for her volunteer work with two young blind adults who had other handicaps. In one project, she received permission from Milton Bradley to adapt the Twister board, using fabrics which were the same color as the areas on the board but had rich texture like velvet, felt, thick corduroy and terrycloth.

But, Beth's experience is uncommon. A few months ago, she read an article in the Detroit Free Press* about the decline in Braille literacy. The article, from the Associated Press, was written on the occasion of the release of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar (March 26), authorized by Congress to support the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). http://www.braille.org

Only ten percent of America's blind children (down from fifty percent in the '1960s) are being taught to read and write Braille. Nay-sayers claim it is obsolete, difficult to learn and unnecessary in a day and age of recorded books and talking computers.

Beth was shocked to learn this. For her, Braille is not merely a way to read books and magazines. It enables her to be organized, prepared and independent. She knows many people in the gray area between fully sighted and blind who, even though they "see" better than she does, are handicapped because they have been trained to rely on faulty vision instead of learning Braille.

"I am greatly saddened," she says, "when I hear of young, school aged children not being taught Braille because they can currently read large print or print with some type of vision enhancement. This is particularly frustrating in children who have eye conditions that typically progress to blindness in the teen or young adult years. Schools and parents are limiting these children by not teaching them Braille."

"It is nearly as difficult to find products with large print as it is to buy them in Braille," she explains, "except it is easy to adapt things with Braille and not quite so easy to add larger print. Large print is often slow and these students struggle to read and have limited access to printed materials. It seems like they are "forced" to struggle with their limited vision instead of using this vision along with Braille to enhance their independence and access to information."

According to "The Braille Literacy Crisis in America: Facing the Truth, Reversing the Trend, Empowering the Blind," A Report to the Nation by the NFB Jernigan Institute, March 26, 2009, Eighty-five percent of America's blind children have some residual vision, and they are frequently asked to settle for a substandard education which results in a dependent life: http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/The_Braille_Literacy_Crisis_In_America.doc

Special education teachers and parents, often unfamiliar with Braille and the capabilities of blind people, push blind students with residual vision to continue to rely on print, even when they are reading large print at a fraction of the speed of their sighted peers, suffering headaches and missing out on social and recreational activities.

In addition to the obvious cruelty of such an approach, large print doesn't work for accessing countless items encountered in everyday life. Beth points out that large print can't be used for labeling small things like medicine bottles, spices or the controls on microwaves, stoves or washers and dryers. Imagine trying to find one particular CD, cassette or video in your collection. What about toiletries such as shampoos and lotions?

"Most adults I know who do not know Braille and are "functionally" blind," she says, "are far more limited in matters around the house than those who have even basic skills. They are not able to access things because the print is too small or there is no contrast in text background. While using glue dots, puff paint, rubber bands and other labeling techniques are helpful they limit things and it can be hard to remember your unique codes."

Far from rejecting advances in technology, Beth embraces them. She uses a computer equipped with the screen reader Jaws for Windows. The Duxbury Braille translating software enables her to make Braille copies of documents using the Braille Blazer, a Braille embosser which is the Braille equivalent of a printer. She also uses the Victor Reader Stream to download and access books in MP3 or DAISY formats.

"It is not an either/or type of situation," she explains, "It is a Braille plus other methods that attributes success to me professionally, personally, and as a teacher of my children."

Braille, an Essential Tool in the Working World

At the top of Beth's list of Braille's benefits are studies and statistics showing that Braille leads to higher education and income. Most blind Americans of working age are unemployed. Nonetheless, of the thirty percent who do work, over eighty percent read Braille.

"Studies show," she says, "that adults who use Braille, perform better in their professional lives, leading them to greater earning potential and greater independence in the workplace. It allows for note taking, labeling of folders and documents so they can be found without sighted help. It allows us to read phone numbers without having to turn on a piece of talking equipment, and it helps us to manage the myriad of printed materials that would otherwise require sighted assistance. Scanners and other technology allow us to read printed texts, but Braille helps us manage that paperwork."

As a psychologist, Beth took notes in Braille using the traditional slate and stylus method during intake sessions. Her clients were wary of her using a talking computer, which they rightly interpreted as less private.

"I also found it helpful to label client charts and paperwork so I could make sure everything got signed and filled out, and to also label information pamphlets to hand out on medications, resources, and treatments."

When she was teaching the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth, she used Braille notes. She made Braille labels for handouts and the videos she showed in class.

"I think I would have had an impossible time trying to manage these employments without the use of Braille," she says, "Yes, I needed a sighted person to read the paperwork the client's filled out, and to read the plethora of memos that were sent, but Braille allowed me to succeed in each career. "

Braille Makes This Home School Work

"The use of Braille," Beth says about homeschooling her three sighted children, "has allowed me to teach them to read using print and Braille books where they can read a line of print and I can check their work with the Braille. I am able to receive text files from publishers and curriculum producers so I can then translate them to Braille. I can then teach them independently by reading aloud to them, following along in their workbooks. I could not do it at all without the use of Braille. Computer speech and recorded texts are sometimes helpful, and we do use them, but Braille makes it all "really" work."

The Brown children are all thriving. Genevieve, is almost nine-years-old and in third grade. She is a positive, independent, and warm-hearted girl who wants to be a missionary. With Beth's help, coaching her from a Braille spelling list, she recently came in second in a local spelling bee. Isaac is six-years-old and in first grade. He is an adventurous boy with a great deal of energy, a playful personality, and is sensitive and fun-loving. He loves to have his Mom throw a ball to him in the backyard.

"If I might brag," she quips, "he is quite a good catcher...it is either that or, get hit in the nose with a ball being whipped at him by a blind mommy."

Vivian is already actively involved in learning and enjoys the love of her brother and sister.

"My children love to be read to," says Beth, "They love the colorful pictures, and like to feel the Braille. From very early ages, about 15 months or so, my children know, very clearly, which books I can read and regularly bring me piles of books so we can cuddle up and I can read to them. It is generally not until age three-and-a-half that my children figure out that not all mommies are blind or need Braille. Recently, Isaac has shown an interest in learning Braille. He wants to write me notes and loves to punch dots with a slate and stylus or to "use" the Braille writer. So, I will soon add this to his school schedule. Reading is very important to our family and I go with my kids to the library. They pick out wagon loads of books. Daddy reads to them at bedtime, and now that Genevieve is a very good reader, she can read books to her siblings and to me also."

Managing the Practical Side of Life

For blind people and those with low vision who wish to live independent and fulfilling lives, organization is vital to accessing information. Beth uses it for everything from educational materials to spices, medicine, crafts and identifying plants in the garden. Beth labels her children's work and books, as well as art supplies. She makes her own flash cards and uses Braille labels on the standard ones.

"I can label games," she explains, "so that I can play with my children. I use Braille to label maps and many of our school items. They even know to help me get things labeled so we can use it together. There is always a scramble to label new toys/games after birthdays or Christmas because they want to be able to have me play with them."

There are several commercially available Braille labeling systems. Dymo tape can be brailed using a specially adapted slate and stylus or a Braille labeling machine. There is also transparent plastic "paper" with adhesive backing that can be Brailed and trimmed to any size. Not all methods require special products; standard note cards can be Brailed and placed inside file folders, boxes or drawers.

As adults, it is important for all of us to have plans in place for what to do in an emergency. The use of Braille allows blind people to access notes and other important information in a crisis or power outage. Privacy is something that we all value, and blind people are no different. Braille is a quiet way to access information while on the telephone or with others in the room. It also enables blind people to do hand crafts.

"My best friend," says Beth who also knits, "brailed the instructions for a latch hook pattern so I could make something for each of my children while I was pregnant. I had the instructions in Braille, Braille on the bags of sorted yarn and I was able to complete this task without help."

Another complaint about Braille is the size of the books themselves. Braille takes up far more room than print, but for blind parents like Beth, size is a small matter.

"It is hard to read a Print and Braille book to ones child as they are big and slippery, but I have managed this and enjoy reading to my kids a great deal. However, many parents I know with low vision do not read to their kids at all, because reading print in a book is slow and they do not feel confident. The kids can not see the pictures at all, because the book is too close to the parent's face. The ability to find print that is large enough or on a page with enough contrast limits what they can read. Using books with print and Braille with pictures such as those produced by Seedlings Braille Books, National Braille Press, and others I can read a great deal to my children and they can enjoy the pictures while I read. Braille may limit how many things I can read as only a small percent of books are put in to Braille, but it is better than no books."

Now that advances in medicine have enabled the survival of more premature babies, the number of multi-handicapped children who are blind is increasing. Cognitive deficit is sited as a reason for not teaching some of these kids Braille. When she was working on her Girl Scout Gold award, Beth witnessed first-hand how some of them could benefit from Braille. The other project she did was to make a tactile book, mostly Braille, for the two young adults with whom she was working.

"They had never been taught Braille," she remembers, "because others believed that their other handicaps would prevent this. They were limited in their abilities but Braille skills and independence skills greatly helped these young women who had been disadvantaged by the schools they were in."

Braille Boosts Church and Community Life

"Yes, I do have an audio Bible on CD," says Beth who considers Braille essential for studying the Bible, "and I use this for my daily read through the Bible study, but to really study the Bible, to look up verses and follow a theme or to cross reference passages, one needs to have a Braille copy. I suppose you could do this with a computerized version, using a search for a verse function, but it would just not be the same. It is important that my children see me open the Bible and study it. They will learn to do the same, and this is essential to our family. I also use it to teach and memorize scripture with my children. We use the "Keys for Kids" daily devotional guide. I can have this in Braille to read aloud to them and then my Bible to read the recommended verses. This is how we like to start or end each day, and it would be difficult without Braille."

The "Keys for Kids" daily devotional, published by Children's Bible hour Ministries (Grand Rapids, Michigan), is available free in Braille from Helping hands Ministries & Source of light ministries, 1011 Mission RD, Madison, Ga 30650 , 706-342-0397.

Braille is also essential to Beth's involvement in her church and community. She serves on her church's Social Ministries task team and enjoyed helping setting up the coat bank. She also served as the leader of the Starfish House ministry, a home used to house one homeless family at a time to assist them in gaining stability in their lives. She participates in several local groups who support natural childbirth, work to improve maternity care and advocate for women to have a choice of places to birth outside of the hospital. All of the Brown children were birthed naturally, without medications using a hospital, a free standing birth center and at home using a midwife

This level of participation in society requires planning. Prior to meetings, she requests that agendas and other material be sent via e-mail, so she can make Braille copies.

"I also have seen people use a Braille note or other Braille display, either way it is Braille and not disruptive to the meeting as a speech system might be."

Participation in worship is one of the most important and meaningful benefits of this prior planning. Getting the service bulletin ahead of time allows Beth to use her Braille hymnal, an essential part of her worship experience.

"Getting the service bulletin sent by e-mail ahead of time allows me to follow along in the order of service, participate in the responsive readings and prayers. It allows me to sing along with the congregation, and to have the calendar of church events and prayer requests. This would be an impossible task with a recorded format."

Many denominations offer Braille hymnals. They are usually several large volumes. Some are produced as three-ring notebooks. This allows users to remove and carry only the hymns needed.

"I did not have a Braille hymnal until I was in College," she recalls, "It really brought new meaning and appreciation for worship attendance. I was no longer just an attendee of church but I could fully participate in worship."

Advice for Other Families Dealing with Vision Loss

Braille like so many other things requires family and community support. Beth recommends that families with blind and functionally blind members learn it together. This allows parents to help with school work and encourages children to view Braille as a useful tool rather than something that makes them feel different.

"The students of today would greatly benefit from a parent who could assist them with Braille learning," says Beth, "Parents who know Braille can translate school materials and are more knowledgeable in their advocacy for their children. This is essential for the parent who is homeschooling a blind child, but it is also important for any parent who has a blind child. I can not even count how many times my mom made things easier for me because she knew Braille and how to see the world from a tactile perspective. A parent just can not assume that the TVI's (Teachers of the Visually Impaired) of today know Braille or all that is needed to teach a student to use it for independence."

"It is really very easy," she says to reluctant parents, "Any adult can learn it, and with free programs through the Hadley School, there is no reason why not to learn."

The Hadley School for the Blind provides free distance education to blind people, their families and professionals teaching blind students. They offer thirteen courses in Braille alone: http://www.hadley-school.org/

In addition, Beth belongs to an online group for parents homeschooling blind children and blind parents who are homeschooling their blind or sighted children. It is also open to teachers and other professionals in the blindness field: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blindhomeschooler/

She highly recommends the APH (American Printing House for the Blind) Louis database as the most comprehensive source of finding books and recorded materials for homeschooling" Http://www.aph.org/louis.htm

"Braille," Beth says, "has to be seen as a primary means of functioning for anyone who has significantly reduced vision. Yes, they should be encouraged to use their sight as much as possible but to learn equally, it is okay to rely on one's hands and other senses to increase independence. Encourage them to use Braille as a source of independence rather than viewing it as a sign of a handicap."

Putting Vision Loss in Perspective

"Being blind is just a small part of who I am," says Beth, "and I refuse it to be the guiding force of who I am, or a negative trait of who I am, it is no more important than my skin or hair color, or my height or weight, or my voice tone, it is simply a minor trait. I hope that people can see me for my heart as a bigger source of who I am. I am not a blind mom, but the loving and supportive mom of three beautiful children who is middle aged, brown-haired, and...oh yeah, blind."

Beth's perspective on her blindness is shaped by her faith in God, her optimistic nature and the values her parents instilled in her.

"God gifted me with many great things," she explains," The first is that I have a complete trust that he will provide my every need and that not only includes the typical things like home and food and clothing, but extends to our home schooling journey as we are attempting to raise our children for His glory. We believe this pleases Him, and he will shine His face on our endeavor. This gives me comfort beyond all measure. Secondly, I believe that my parents encouraged me to be the best at anything that I desired and I desire to be a positive, energetic, goal achieving adult and this brings me great pleasure as I meet each milestone. Third, I am, by my nature, a positive person, but when I obtain support from friends, family, the community, or technology I have the encouragement I need to move beyond any challenges that may befall me."

Beth believes that she is blind for a reason and that each of us is put on this earth with a purpose.

"I do not exactly know the full scope of that purpose," she explains, "Maybe it is to show that a person with a disability can be a productive member of society. Or maybe it is to teach my children to be flexible, creative, and positive when coping with the challenges that can occur in life. Maybe it is to touch the lives of others in ways I may not even intend. I do not really know what it is, but I am confident that I will serve that life purpose by being a contented person, and working to be a positive reflection of God's love to others."

The link to this version of the AP article is inactive, but the article can be read at: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/03/26/fewer-10-percent-blind-americans-read-braille/