1 / 10

Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page

Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page. Joel Lawson SPE 520. Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page. Relevance of the Topic

ludlow
Télécharger la présentation

Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page • Joel Lawson • SPE 520

  2. Reading Braille and Spatial Orientation: Proper Orientation to the Braille Page • Relevance of the Topic • A specific challenge in learning Braille is appropriate spatial orientation to the Braille page by the Braille reader. • Proper spatial orientation enables Braille readers to read Braille characters across the page from left to right. • A necessary spatial orientation issue relates to rotation of the Braille page (Heller, 1992; Millar, 1997) • There are two general orientations to rotation • Canonical: horizontal or non-rotated Braille page • Non-canonical: rotated Braille page (e.g., 45 degrees) • Rotating Braille may confuse the reader causing misinterpretation of letters and words due to misaligned finger or hand orientation to the Braille (Ungar, Blades & Spencer, 1998)

  3. Related Research • Early research indicated that orientation to the Braille page had a large effect on Braille recognition (Heller, 1985; 1987; 1989; 1992) • This research describes the performance of students who were blind: • lower when the Braille page was tilted • persons who are congenitally blind had a slightly lower performance than those persons who are adventitiously blind • Persons who are adventitiously blind may have clearer visual imagery that is necessary for mental rotation in compensating for the slant

  4. Related Research continued • More current research presented slightly different results • Heller, Morton, Jeffrey, Green, and de Lima (1999) examined the performance of three groups (persons who are sighted, congenitally blind, and adventitiously blind) in reading non-rotated Braille letters and rotated Braille letters at 180 degree rotation. • All participants performed worse on the 180 degree rotated Braille • Persons that are sighted (n = 9) had more difficulty with the rotation than the two blind groups (n = 18) • These findings contradict earlier studies that suggested that visual experience is necessary for mental rotation (Heller, 1992) • Authors concluded that the effect of orientation is influenced by practice and experience (Heller, 1992; 1993) • Canonical orientation (non-rotated) is very important when children first learn Braille.

  5. Related Research continued • Ungar, Blades, and Spencer (1998) researched the effects of rotated Braille letters and words on the speed and accuracy of visually impaired (n =12) • More errors of recognition and speed occurred when Braille letters were rotated at 45 and 90 degrees • The same rotations did not affect performance on sets of words in lines • More advanced Braille readers were less affected by rotations because the authors concluded that they had learned to use external reference frameworks in coding Braille. • This study produced results similar to an earlier analysis by Heller (1992)

  6. Application of Research to Practice • Braille should be presented horizontally, especially with new Braille readers (Heller et al., 1999) • Consider possible differences between congenital and adventitiously blind readers (Heller, 1992) • If rotated Braille is used, Braille letters tend to present more problems than words in line (Unger et al., 1998) • Experienced Braille readers tend to develop tactics for recognizing and adjusting to rotated Braille when a context is provided, such as words in line or symbols on a map (Unger et al., 1998).

  7. Case Study • John • Maria

  8. Other Considerations • Beginner vs. Experience Braille reader • Preschool vs. Adolescent • Congenital vs. Adventitious

  9. References • Heller, M. A. (1985). Tactual perception of embossed Morse code and braille: The alliance of vision and touch. Perception, 14, 563-570. • Heller, M. A. (1987). The effect of orientation on visual and tactual braille recognition. Perception, 16, 291-298. • Heller, M. A. (1989). Tactile memory in sighted and blind observers: The • influence of orientation and rate of presentation. Perception, 18, 121-133. • Heller, M. A. (1992). The effect of orientation on tactual braille recognition: Optimal "touching positions." Perception & Psychophysics, 51, 549-556. • Heller, M. A. (1993). Influence of visual guidance on braille recognition: Low lighting also helps touch. Perception & Psychophysics, 54, 675-681.

  10. References continued • Heller, M. A., Calcaterra, J. A. . Green, S., & de Lima, F. J. (1999). The effect of orientation on Braille recognition in persons who are sighted and blind. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 93, 416-419. • Millar, S. (1997). Reading by touch. London: Routledge. • Ungar, S., Blades, M., & Spencer, C. (1998). Effects of orientation on braille reading by people who are visually impaired. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 92, 454-463.

More Related