An investigation of preferences and choices of students with vision impairments on literacy medium for studying

Abstract

This article presents the outcomes of a national survey set in Greece examining the preferences and choices of students with vision impairments on literacy medium for studying. In brief, this study explored (a) the students’ preferences regarding literacy medium for studying, (b) the students’ opinions regarding the best performance medium for their studying, and (c) the relationship between the students’ literacy medium preferences and choices in terms of their age, type of vision loss, and onset of vision impairment. Seventy-five primary and secondary students with vision impairments participated in the study. Relevant data were obtained through questionnaires, and the results showed that braille and large print were the preferred mediums for studying regardless of gender, age, type of vision loss, and onset of blindness. Yet, the majority of the participants chose the medium of listening (‘aural reading’) as the best performance medium for their studying. The discussion highlights issues such as literacy skills, usage of technological advances, and teachers’ training and stresses the need for developing evidence-based practices and educational programmes through organized interdisciplinary teams and networks.

The sound of reading: Color-to-timbre substitution boosts reading performance via OVAL, a novel auditory orthography optimized for visual-to-auditory mapping

“…The decline of Braille reading is accompanied by an increased use of audio technologies such as audiobooks and other text-to-speech conversion algorithms used in tandem with digital devices. The lack of training required for the use of these programs, their low-cost and easy installation and the fact they don't require dedicated hardware make them appealing for blind and visually impaired individuals, especially students and others who are required to read large pieces of information, although initial evidence suggests that Braille reading is still the preferred medium by students [34]. This reported preference for Braille-reading appears to be in line with the predictions coming from the seminal and influential theory of the Simple View of Reading positing that reading comprehension is determined by two cognitive capacities: decoding words through alphabetic coding, and language understanding [35,36]; see [37] for more recent empirical evidence).…”

Experiences of individuals with blindness or visual impairment during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Hungary

“…It is therefore clear that those knowledgeable of ICT may find jobs more easily (Douglas et al, 2007; Wolffe & Kelly, 2011). Improving access to ICT, however, does not mean that all softwares and online platforms, and all information available on the Internet, would be accessible with a screen reader (Argyropoulos et al, 2019). It is nowadays common that a single user uses various devices (desktop computer, laptop, smart phone) in getting access to the same system (e.g., accessing work from home) via ubiquitous access (Massun Billah et al, 2017).…”

Inference making skill in children with visual impairments

“…Although little is known about the underlying causes for the developmental lag in reading skill found in children with visual impairments (e.g., Douglas et al, 2002Douglas et al, , 2004 it is important to develop a detailed profile of partially-sighted children's reading ability (at least comparable to the wellresearched reading profile of their TS peers) as their documented lag in reading comprehension ability compared to TS children increases with age, and research indicates that in the UK children with VIs are already entering secondary education (11+ years) with lower attainment than other pupils (Chanfreau & Cebulla, 2009). This study represents a move in the direction of establishing a reading profile for this population of novice (7-11 years) readers, which could then be utilised by researchers examining how best to support reading in individuals with VIs, whether that be via the use of assistive technologies (e.g., Argyropoulos, Padeliadu, Avramidis, Tsiakali, & Nikolaraizi., 2019;Argyropoulos, Paveli, & Nikolaraizi, 2019), or other approaches such as repeated readings (that could emphasise spatial information in narratives) (e.g., Savaiano, & Hatton, 2013).…”