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Your
Child's Right to Read
by
Carol Castellano
Reprinted from In Touch, the newsletter of the
POBC-NJ
A
father reports that his daughter had to be placed in
a Resource Room instead of the regular classroom during
the school year. The child has no learning problems
or delays; she simply cannot keep up with the class
reading on a closed circuit television.
"Braille
is a tremendous undertaking, very complicated and difficult
to learn," a blindness professional tells one mom. "Let
your son use his vision for as long as he has it."
"My
child isn't blind. She doesn't need Braille. She can
use a CCTV to read." But when the partially sighted
youngster reaches second grade, her mother realizes
the child cannot read at all. By the time Braille instruction
is finally initiated, the student is lagging far behind
her classmates. "I had been so happy that my daughter
'wasn't blind.' I now see that Braille is not a curse
of blindness, but a tool of literacy and freedom," the
mom says.
What
do these scenarios have in common? A negative attitude
that Braille is the medium of last resort and the misconception
that Braille is not for youngsters who have some eyesight.
The reality is that Braille is a valuable tool that
is the key for both totally blind and partially sighted
people to full literacy and equality in the classroom.
Not every partially sighted person needs Braille. But
there are far too many students with partial vision
for whom Braille would be a sensible reading option,
who are denied instruction in this most beneficial medium.
There
is good news. An important change was made to the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal
law that guarantees a "free and appropriate education"
to children with disabilities. The change says:
"The
IEP Team shall...in the case of a child who is blind
or visually impaired, provide for instruction in Braille
and the use of Braille unless the IEP Team determines,
after an evaluation of the child's reading and writing
skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media
(including an evaluation of the child's future needs
for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille), that
instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not
appropriate for the child." (Section 614(d)(3)(B)(iii))
What
does this actually mean? It means, first of all, that
the school must provide Braille. Secondly, it means
that four specific areas must be examined before Braille
can be ruled out. The IEP team, which includes the parent(s),
must evaluate
1.
the child's present reading and writing skills;
2.
his/her reading and writing needs;
3.
the appropriate reading and writing media (which could
end up being Braille, print, or both Braille and print);
and
4.
any need the child might have in the future for Braille.
Only
if the results of these evaluations show that the child
does not presently need Braille and will not need Braille
in the future, can Braille be ruled out.
Decisions
about teaching Braille have often been made on a single
basis—whether the child had enough vision to see
any print. Now, it is no longer legal to say that just
because a child can see a little, he/she cannot have
Braille. The teaching of Braille was often delayed until
the child began falling behind in school. Now, families
and teachers should not have to watch their children
or students fail before an appropriate literacy tool
is provided. Decisions about teaching Braille were often
full of emotion—"You're making the child blind."
Now decisions about Braille will be based on an objective
examination of the child's present and future need for
the medium. Braille used to be the medium of last resort.
Braille will now be the medium of first choice. This
change in the law has the potential to make an enormously
positive difference in the lives of blind children.
Many
of us have heard Braille spoken about as very difficult
and burdensome to learn. We have heard that partially
sighted students don't want to learn Braille or that
they will read it with their eyes anyway. But it's all
in the presentation. If Braille is presented in a positive
light as the medium of choice for full literacy, if
the methods of teaching it are engaging and appropriate,
if children are taught to pair their remaining vision
with their sense of touch, then Braille learning will
be undertaken with the same excitement and interest
that a child might have for any other subject or skill.
And it will be mastered with a sense of pleasure and
accomplishment.
The
fact is that Braille is a wonderful literacy tool, whether
it is used exclusively or along with print. It enables
the child to read fast and without fatigue, to keep
up with the class, to take notes and read them back.
Braille opens the world of the analysis of literature
and of higher math and the sciences. Braille levels
the playing field, enables our children to compete on
equal terms with their peers, and to have access to
all aspects of a good education. This law is a great
victory for blind/visually impaired children, for it
ensures that they will now be given the tools they need
for full literacy, for a complete education, and for
a bright tomorrow.
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