B. Ericson, and I. Fellers

Tomteboda Resource Centre
P.O.Box 1313
171 25 Solna
SWEDEN

"What reading medium will be the best when my child starts school?" This is a common question from the parents, who have a child with severe or profound low vision, before an assessment visit at Tomteboda Resource Centre (TRC).

Our answers and advice are very important for the child and for the family.

To choose the best reading medium is a very complex task and in some cases we can feel some uncertainty.

We went over our written reports from the assessment visits of 125 children born 1980-1989 with a question about reading medium. They were about six years at the time of the visit. Their visual acuity were between 0.01 and 0.7.

We found four groups of recommendations from TRC: 1) Braille, 2) Braille and Print, 3) Print first, Braille later and 4) Reading media not clearly discussed. The following factors influenced our choice of reading media: The size of the smallest symbol possible to see, single and grouped symbols, reasonable reading distance, near acuity, visual perception, central visual field, the tactual and the visual behaviour and also tactual ability..

In what way do they read today: Braille, Print or both and what factors have affected the choice of the pupils? Is it our recommendation, the visual acuity or something else? Which of the factors have been most important for their decision? Our model of assessment, is it accurate enough? Are there any important parts missing to be able to deliver a well-grounded recommendation for choice of reading medium? To find an answer we asked the consultants about the pupil’s way to read today. We even interviewed some of the pupils. We want to report the outcomes in our lecture.