There is a Need...
In Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Di'az's book entitled Early Literacy Storytimes, the first chapter lists the six components that the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development declared go into the developing literacy of children (2006). Of these six components, which include Print Awareness (noticing print) and Letter Knowledge (individual letters with different forms and sounds), students with visual impairments are at a disadvantage. Unlike their sighted peers, children with visual impairments are at a disadvantage, because their experience of their environment is often composed of solely auditory and physical experiences. While children who are sighted can point and ask the names of certain things, and are constantly encountering print in their lives, those with visual impairments are lost to this experience of their surroundings.
"Children with visual impairments are primarily included in public school classrooms and are therefore educated under the overall guidelines that apply to all children," yet like other children who do not grow up in a household that promotes literacy, these children are at a a vast disadvantage (Kamei-Hannan et al., 2012). Low-level vision decreases the amount of text a child is exposed to, as well as experience of their physical environment to be able to relate things in text to things they have experienced. In a mainstream public classroom, a braille reader has to not only advance in both new vocabulary words and more difficult styles of writing, they have the added task of learning not only "all the letters, grammatical rules, and spelling that all students must learn, but must overlay this knowledge with a large number of braille contractions and rules about their use" (Emerson et al., 2009).
Some may argue that with the advent of technology, that those with visual do not need to learn braille or how to read, because it can all be digital read our loud. However, this argument is without merit. "The ability to read and write is absolutely essential if we expect them to become self-supporting in their adult life, " is the argument made by Johnson's article about the braille literacy crisis (1996). While an older article, its arguments ring true. "Just listening to books doesn't teach a blind child how to read, spell, or write," but with the right tools and instruction, those with visual impairments have the ability to become literate (Samuels, 2008).
These children do receive special instruction in reading and while this tries to compensate for their disadvantage start into the world of reading, it is not enough to just be able to recognize letters and words to be literate. Part of being literate, is to be able to understand and engage with text, and the best way to help increase literacy is to help children and young adults to like to read, for them to become engaged in Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) (Krashen, 2004). Krashen makes the argument that the more children are motivated to read on their own accord, the more competent readers they will become. FVR can be challenge for blind or visually impaired children because often adequate resources and times to promote this are not made available. Classroom teachers must spend lots of time just getting these visually impaired children up to speed with their mainstream companions, and time for independent reading is not always available. Teachers may have much more access to funding for braille books and large print editions, but these are not available for student outside of the typical school day.
Libraries have a responsibility to help promote the love of reading for people of all skill levels and abilities. They can do this by making this type of material accessible in the formats of Large Print texts, braille books, and audio books. FVR comes with the understanding that one must acquire the enjoyment of reading (Krashen, 2004). By meeting children and young adults at the level they are at in literacy, and by providing multiple formats and programs that can be made accessible to children with visual impairments, libraries can help increase the literacy of these child while maintaining their mantra to serve their public.
"Children with visual impairments are primarily included in public school classrooms and are therefore educated under the overall guidelines that apply to all children," yet like other children who do not grow up in a household that promotes literacy, these children are at a a vast disadvantage (Kamei-Hannan et al., 2012). Low-level vision decreases the amount of text a child is exposed to, as well as experience of their physical environment to be able to relate things in text to things they have experienced. In a mainstream public classroom, a braille reader has to not only advance in both new vocabulary words and more difficult styles of writing, they have the added task of learning not only "all the letters, grammatical rules, and spelling that all students must learn, but must overlay this knowledge with a large number of braille contractions and rules about their use" (Emerson et al., 2009).
Some may argue that with the advent of technology, that those with visual do not need to learn braille or how to read, because it can all be digital read our loud. However, this argument is without merit. "The ability to read and write is absolutely essential if we expect them to become self-supporting in their adult life, " is the argument made by Johnson's article about the braille literacy crisis (1996). While an older article, its arguments ring true. "Just listening to books doesn't teach a blind child how to read, spell, or write," but with the right tools and instruction, those with visual impairments have the ability to become literate (Samuels, 2008).
These children do receive special instruction in reading and while this tries to compensate for their disadvantage start into the world of reading, it is not enough to just be able to recognize letters and words to be literate. Part of being literate, is to be able to understand and engage with text, and the best way to help increase literacy is to help children and young adults to like to read, for them to become engaged in Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) (Krashen, 2004). Krashen makes the argument that the more children are motivated to read on their own accord, the more competent readers they will become. FVR can be challenge for blind or visually impaired children because often adequate resources and times to promote this are not made available. Classroom teachers must spend lots of time just getting these visually impaired children up to speed with their mainstream companions, and time for independent reading is not always available. Teachers may have much more access to funding for braille books and large print editions, but these are not available for student outside of the typical school day.
Libraries have a responsibility to help promote the love of reading for people of all skill levels and abilities. They can do this by making this type of material accessible in the formats of Large Print texts, braille books, and audio books. FVR comes with the understanding that one must acquire the enjoyment of reading (Krashen, 2004). By meeting children and young adults at the level they are at in literacy, and by providing multiple formats and programs that can be made accessible to children with visual impairments, libraries can help increase the literacy of these child while maintaining their mantra to serve their public.