You are here | Journal of Ratchasuda College for Research and Development of Persons With Disabilities | Vol.6
Academic Articles
A study of pattern of hand activity in Thai Braille Reading among blind students in secondary school
Researcher : Supranee Srisawat
E-mail : poohjane99@hotmail.com
Abstract
This study surveyed the patterns of hand activity and reading speed of Thai Braille among blind secondary students at eight schools for the blind in Thailand. The subjects were randomly selected by cluster sampling method from four schools. There were 60 blind students who participated in the research, including 41 male participants and 19 female participants.
In this study, the researcher allowed blind students to read a Braille article with their preferred pattern of hand activity. The article was selected from a Braille reading and writing contest held in 2005, and consisted of 5 Braille pages. Each participant was assigned to read the article once within 5 minutes and their reading speed was timed. The findings showed that more students preferred to use the two-handed reading pattern (44 students or 73.3%) rather than the one-handed reading pattern (16 students or 27.7%). The difference between the average reading speed with the one-handed pattern and the two-handed pattern was not statistically significant (p>0.05). However, the data showed that the participants who read with two hands performed better than those who read with one hand (41.35 words per minute vs. 34.64 words per minute, respectively). In addition, the results from interviewing teachers of blind students showed that many teachers support the use of the two-handed reading pattern because the students can read faster and show good posture during reading. Thus, two-handed reading should be promoted in teaching blind students to read Braille.
Keywords : Blind, Braille, Reading
