Teaching Braille: reading strategies

Abstract

This study reports the importance of braille for people who lost their sight and the significance of reading in their learning process. At the same time, it shows a professional’s trajectory in the teaching of braille. The absence of reading habit is common to most of the population, including people with visual impairment. The Reading Project came to life after some studies (partial results were presented in a Symposium) held in a rehabilitation center, having started with two apprentices and later extended to other students who also decided to learn braille. Based on these studies, we began to invest in the collection of braille books and to use strategies to increase the interest in reading. The study included all subjects above 12 years old who were part of a rehabilitation program for learning braille, between 2009 and 2015. This qualitative study made use of observation records, reports on the learning and interaction process between the researcher and the subjects, and a discussion of the obtained results. There was an increase in the number of loans of braille books from the Rehabilitation Center’s collection and the students’ writing improved. The reading strategies were properly and successfully applied. Learning to read and write has brought positive changes in the students’ lives. It is important to create public policies for the production of braille books and materials.