In 2010, the National Braille Press (NBP) provided some inter- esting facts supporting the importance of braille instruction. The NBP noted that of the 26% of individuals who are blind and em- ployed, the majority are braille readers. However, braille literacy rates for school-age children who are blind have declined from greater than 50% (40 years ago) to only 12% today. In a study published in 2018, Silverman and Bell investigated the correla- tion between braille reading, well being and employment. A to- tal of 443 participants completed the survey. Results suggested that individuals, who were mostly primary braille readers since childhood, had greater life-satisfaction, self-esteem and job sat- isfaction than individuals who reported not using braille as their primary reading medium during childhood. Also, individuals who became braille readers in adolescence or adulthood had higher life-satisfaction, self-esteem and employment rates than those individuals who were not braille readers. In addressing the braille literacy crisis, the National Federa- tion for the Blind (NFB, 2009) made several recommendations including advancing the use of braille in current and emerging technologies and researching new methods for teaching and learning braille. The Attainment Company, in collaboration with these authors, Dr. Betsy Flener and Joni Nygard, MS CCC-SLP, is currently developing a product that encompasses a new and engaging way for students to learn braille. This product is called GoBraille. GoBraille was developed with the idea that students should learn braille in an engaging way, one that mirrors reading instruc- tion for typically developing sighted peers. Ideally, sighted stu- dents could sit alongside the blind student and learn the same words and word fragments in print. In the past, typical braille instruction has mostly included programming that removed the blind student from instruction with their sighted peers. Historically, much of braille instruction has focused on learn- ing contractions in various groups rather than the specific con- tractions in the sequence of sight words that students typical- ly learn. GoBraille focuses on introducing the Unified English Braille Code (UEB) with Dolch sight words and some Fry sight words in a similar order that sighted peers learn the same words. Sight words are critical to reading instruction in that they make up 75% of words in children’s printed materials (National Read- ing Panel, 2017). Also, sight words can build upon each other and provide clues to the context of printed material (Courtenay, 2015). Hayes (2016) noted the importance of sight words: (1) they improve a student’s overall reading abilities, (2) they im- prove a student’s confidence in reading, and (3) they are benefi- cial when used with other literacy instruction. GoBraille (See figure 1) is an exciting app designed for the iPad that includes over 75 interactive tactile overlays. It is the second major commercial product to encompass tactile over- lays for literacy with auditory output on the iPad. TactileTalk Toolkit, the first product by the same authors, and winner of the National Braille Press Louis Braille Touch of Genius Competition
Figure 1: GoBraille App Icon
Figure 2: Page 1, Which Is Different
for Innovation in 2015, provided young learners with blindness and low vision and those with additional disabilities, a means for communication and opportunity to develop early tactile skills. The communication book within TactileTalk Toolkit incor- porates tactile symbols with an easy-to-use navigation system to communicate functional needs and basic choices. The tactile skills reinforced through the TactileTalk Toolkit are precursors to braille and include skills such as texture discrimination, shape identification, size differentiation, identification of positions, counting skills and the skills needed to follow a tactile line. Also addressing early literacy, the TactileTalk Toolkit includes an
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