Eileen Hill

The use of the NARA for assessing the reading ability of children with low vision

This paper summarises the reading ability data collected from 476 children with low vision using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA). The project aimed to generate standard reading ages for pupils with low vision using the NARA reading test. This would enable childrens reading to be assessed against their partially sighted peers as well as their fully sighted peers. Standardised reading ages were generated using a linear regression technique to smooth the data. The data shows that the average reading ages for accuracy, comprehension and speed for the sample are generally below their chronological age when the comparison is made with their fully sighted peers. Guidelines for using the NARA with low vision students are presented.

Issues in the Educational, Psychological Assessment of Visually Impaired Children: Test-Retest Reliability of the Williams Intelligence Test for Children with Defective Vision.

The article discusses some problems confronting teachers and psychologists when making decisions as to how to use the currently available test procedures. It reports data gathered on three separate occasions on the performance of a group of blind and partially sighted children on the Williams Intelligence Test which is the only specialist IQ test standardized in the UK. Correlation co-efficients indicate that the test achieves very satisfactory levels of test-retest reliability. Attention is drawn to changes, including improvements, in individual scores over time that have implications for educational advisers. Some of these improvements are attributed to the widening of experiences in the physical exploration of the environment, in language opportunities, and in socialization that are due to the effects of good pre-school and early-school placements. Despite the test’s good reliability as revealed by this longitudinal study, it is suggested that the time has now come for the design and standardization of a new test incorporating current developments and thinking.

Is literacy for blind people under threat? Does braille have a future?

Changes to braille to produce a Unified English Braille (UEB) have caused grave concerns among some braillists. Proponents of UEB claim it will make braille easier to learn and produce and ensure uniformity of practice in the English-speaking world. Section ‘Introduction’ puts the controversy into its wider historical context, citing research showing braille has always been changing. Part A brings out some of braille’s problems in relation to ink-print: quantity and complexity of braille signs, heavier demands on children and newly blind adults in learning their rules of use, the paper-space requirements and bulk of braille books, lower redundancy, lower reading speeds, limited/slower scanning strategies for accessing information, and difficulties with tools for reading and writing. Research is presented from a longitudinal investigation into the cognitive factors affecting the development of braille reading accuracy, comprehension, and speed. Part B argues that there is evidence underlining the need for early teaching to compensate for the absence of casual, unstructured learning available to sighted infants and for continuing the teaching of braille, especially speed of reading, beyond the Primary School Stage of education. It is inferred that contrary to claims that computer technology will render this unique tactile code obsolete, it is in fact making access to braille easier, faster, and cheaper. The code’s flexibility and contribution to the personal, social, and economic independence of blind people are so important that it is vital that teachers, rehabilitation professionals, and psychologists recognise their roles in fostering the attainment of literacy through braille.

Retinoblastoma and superior verbal IQ scores

Experienced teachers have long asserted that children blind from retinoblastoma (Rb), a rare cancer of the eye, are of above average intelligence. To test this hypothesis, standardized verbal intelligence tests were administered to a sample of 85 children and adults, all diagnosed with the early infancy form of this condition. For 42 of the Rb participants, a control group was assembled of other blind individuals, each matched one-to-one on age, age of onset of the blindness, duration of the condition, sex, and educational history/background. The IQ scores of 200 visually impaired children are also presented for general comparison purposes in view of a common belief that verbal ability may be enhanced when sight is impaired. The mean verbal IQ of the 85 Rb participants was significantly above that of the sighted population upon which the IQ tests had been standardized. Also, the mean IQ of the sub-group of 42 Rb participants was statistically significantly superior to that of their 42 matched control group peers.

The generation of standardised print reading scores for children with low vision in Great Britain

Acknowledgements: This study was funded by the RNIB. We would like to thank the staff and students who took part in this study and Claudia Evans for her help in the data collection.

Harnessing the Community: Moon Script, the Moon-Writer and Sighted Volunteers.

The steadily increasing numbers of visually impaired people will necessitate new approaches to the teaching of reading and writing. The close similarity of moon script to the familiar print alphabet, and the relative ease with which it can be learned by blind and sighted adults, may make it a useful alternative to braille. An account is given of some experimental courses in which adults have been trained to read and write moon script, and it is argued that the success of these courses suggests that rehabilitation professionals could use non-expert, sighted volunteers to teach moon to newly blinded people.

The present and the future: concerns of visually impaired teenagers:

A group of visually handicapped teenagers were interviewed about their thoughts and hopes as they approached the end of their formal schooling. In this paper, an account is given of what they had to say about (a) possible advances in medical science that might affect them, (b) the attitudes of society towards them, and (c) their anxieties concerning the threat o f nuclear warfare.

A Note on Some Problems in the Testing of Personality Characteristics in Children with Visual Impairment.

An examination is made of the value of using published personality tests with young blind and partially sighted children. Based on data gathered during a longitudinal investigation into the educational and psychological development of a group of 120 visually impaired learners, the authors conclude that their own selection of a test instrument cannot be deemed to have been successful. A more up-to-date assessment procedure and one based on a better theoretical understanding of the personality structure of congenitally visually impaired children is considered necessary.