Steve Kelley
The first of Hadley's new tactile braille workshops has just launched and it’s going to make teaching and learning braille a lot more engaging for the older adult! Like Hadley’s other workshops, they are available, at no cost to registered learners. Registration is free, and can be done online at Hadley.edu, or by calling Hadley’s Help Desk at 800-323-4238.
In a recent conversation with Kim Walker, from Hadley’s Research and Development team, she outlined the newest braille workshops from Hadley, which will be available within the first quarter of 2022. Currently, the first of these workshops is available. Nearly two years of research and testing went into the design of these new Tactile Braille workshops. Walker explained that after looking at the data, it was clear that only 15% of the learners who started the traditional Hadley braille courses delivered in the mail on Daisy Talking Book cartridges and braille booklets, actually finished them. To understand this better, they turned to the very same older adult learners who chose not to finish the courses, to find out why, and what needed to improve to make the new Tactile Braille workshops more engaging for learners.
Walker explained that learners reported difficulty with deadlines, challenges with the audio player, and some even reported being overwhelmed with the contents in the box, when they first received the former Braille Literacy 1 course from Hadley. “We heard all kinds of things,” Walker explained, “but the one word we kept hearing was, ‘overwhelmed.’” Their research also discovered that 80% of those adults taking the braille course, had remaining vision, and some reported they were reading the braille visually. “So, we thought, what if we do a dual media, both large print and braille? But we kept in mind that we’re going to have people with no vision.” The team ultimately developed a workshop series delivered online in a series of videos, or by telephone as audio, with workbooks to accompany each series.
The first series of workshops that is currently available is letters of the alphabet. This will be followed by numbers and punctuation, and finally, contracted braille. Workshops will follow a similar format and a great deal of emphasis was placed on the tone and language of the audio as the workshops were developed. “Sometimes what we take for granted is the voice itself,” Kim remarked about the audio delivery for the workshops. “Learners reported finding the voice and tone, both encouraging and supportive. One learner remarked, ‘This is the most effective method I’ve found for learning braille. In the other book, no one was saying, ‘We’ll get through this together.’” This is a reference to the use of inclusive language and “we,” used throughout the workshops. Walker continued, “We found out that language was huge—that feeling was attached with language. The tone is really important, we don’t want to be talked to like a child. They felt like we weren’t telling them what they had to do, we were with them guiding them through it.”
Audio Delivery
Like Hadley’s existing braille workshop series, “Basic Braille by Sight: Reading,” and basic Braille by Sight: Writing,” the new workshops will be available on the website, as a series of videos. The video immediately refers learners to the dual media workbook sent out after registering for the workshop. Workbooks will contain both large print and braille (more on the workbooks below).
Hadley will introduce a new feature with the Tactile Braille series—learners will be able to access the workshops using their phone, and a smartphone is not required. This is not an app, so a landline may be used. Menu options are selected using the number pad, like choosing the desired workshop, to replay a workshop or get the next one. In addition, during business hours, a user can press zero to connect with one of the Braille Learning Experts, if there are questions about the workshop material.
Workshops are composed of slides, which correspond to a page in the workbook. Learners are prompted to go to the next page when slides are completed. Whether navigating by phone or web, learners may repeat a slide, move to the next or previous slides, and pause recordings as needed.
Dual Media Workbook
The new workbooks were literally designed from the ground up based on comments from learners and pilot tests. It was designed to be simple and feel safe for learners. Walker explained:
We know as professionals, there are times when you will use your remaining vision, and times when you will not. This really gives the person a choice… Teaching that skill and pairing it with something known, like the print alphabet seems to work. There’s a lot of research on paired association and how that would work. What we’re seeing with the pilot testing is that it worked. All the workbooks up to uncontracted braille will have the same, familiar layout. In the top left corner of the page will be braille. Beneath it a large print illustration of the braille cells being covered. About halfway down the page, a distinctive tactile line across the width of the page, and below this, several lines of tactile braille examples. “Some people might look at the braille in the large cell, but our entire goal is to teach these learners to be tactile readers. But we had to do this in a very safe way,” Kim explained.
Inside the front cover of each workbook, in large print, is the phone number to use to access the braille workshop on the phone, and the web address, for those wanting to watch the workshops online. Each page of the workshop corresponds with a slide on the video or audio. Each workbook also contains a set of stickers that corresponds with the letters in the workshop. For example, in the workshop for letters a-c, there are several braille stickers included for each of the three letters. Learners are encouraged to try labeling various items around the house. Walker explained that pilot testers were eager to learn letters right away, and using the stickers is a practical way to reinforce this. She also reported that the final draft of the workbooks was well-received by pilot testers. One tester exclaimed, “Wow, this is for me! I’ve actually opened something I can read right away. When things come to me, I often feel excluded. This makes me feel like I’m included…like they thought of me.”
Series Overview
The first series available is the Braille for Everyday Use Series for letters. The series contains a total of eight workshops, each with an accompanying workbook. As learners progress through the series, subsequent workbooks will be mailed out to them. After the second workshop, learners interested in creating their own stickers and braille can request a slate and stylus. Following completing the seventh workshop, which includes a simulation of a pill box using braille labels, learners will receive their own pill box. For those who continue on to the next series, on numbers, a braille labeler will be sent after completing the series. There is no charge to learners for these items.
Walker explained that the dual media workbook design will not be used in the contracted braille series, “We feel by the time a person commits to that, they have enough under their belt that they’ve become a pretty good tactile reader. Same format, same booklet—we keep that middle line in for quite a while.” Another feature planned for the series is the opportunity for synchronous learning in groups. “We heard people saying, “Sometimes you just want to talk to someone else learning braille,” Walker said. “As this develops,” she explained, “the hope is that synchronous learning groups will develop. For example, all those working on certain workshops may have the opportunity to join in with a group of learners also working on the same workshops.” This group learning may look similar to Hadley’s current monthly discussion groups, in which participants are actively engaged in sharing tips and information with one another.
Final Thoughts
The research on design and development, and the responses from pilot testers has Walker and the Hadley staff eager for this latest series to the growing list of over 500 workshops Hadley now offers. At a time when face-to-face braille training with local and state agencies may be less available, this series may quickly become a useful tool for professionals in the field as well. “I was thinking about the TVI (Teacher of the Visually Impaired) and the rehab counselor,” Walker said, “They’ve got pretty big caseloads. How wonderful if you had this instruction, and you’re the facilitator. You can get your person started…because it is designed for them to be very independent. “Walker was clear, however, that this new Tactile Braille series was designed specifically for the adult learner, and that it would require additional literacy elements for younger students.
Walker ended the interview sharing the story of one pilot tester, who she hopes is an indicator of the reception Braille for Everyday Use will have with adult learners. This individual reported at the outset of the pilot testing that she had no interest in learning braille. She didn’t feel she needed it because she had some remaining vision. After agreeing to pilot test the workshop on letters a-c, she said:
"You know, I’m left with the feeling that I’m excited to learn more. I didn’t feel like I needed this, but this is a good time to learn this. I am very positive this is something I do need, want, and can learn. Even with low vision you can use this. This would be a great asset to me. I was fighting learning braille, but it really is for everyone."
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
