Strategy choices by young Braille readers.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Understanding Braille reading acquisition is crucial for supporting blind children's literacy.
• Previous research has explored various coding strategies in Braille, but differences between typical and atypical readers remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how Braille learning coding strategies change with reading level in blind children.
• To determine if coding strategies differ between normal and intellectually disabled (retarded) Braille readers.

Main Methods:

• Oddity judgments were employed with blind children to assess their Braille coding strategies.
• Two experiments were conducted: one examining spontaneous strategy choices and the other assessing strategy use under instruction.

Main Results:

• Strategy choices correlated with reading level only when associated with mental age.
• Intellectually disabled readers exhibited shape neglect and favored phonological strategies compared to normal readers.
• While accuracy improved with reading level for all coding types, shape coding was less accurate and not faster than other methods.

Conclusions:

• Coding Braille word shapes is unlikely to be a primary factor in faster Braille reading.
• Differences in spontaneous strategy selection, not ability to use codes, distinguish intellectually disabled from normal Braille readers.