Eric de Quartel and Thessa Stevenson-Doosje, teacher at Bartimeus Education

A BrailleStudio Experience

Braille increases opportunities for people with a visual impairment to gain access to information. When reading a book, learning how to write or working with complicated information, Braille is the best medium.

In this session the speakers will present the BrailleStudio, It´s a unique piece of software, developed to enable people to learn Braille in an interactive and intuitive way. BrailleStudio utilises text to speech technology and a Braille Display, allowing users to read and write Braille independently. It can be used by young children developing tactile discrimination skills, children in the early stages of learning how to read and write Braille and older learners who may have already acquired literacy skills.

BrailleStudio has been developed by a team of experienced professionals at Bartiméus alongside children and young people with visual impairments. Learning Braille through BrailleStudio gives learners several important advantages over more traditional methods. The activities can be differentiated to meet the needs of the learner. It uses a multisensory approach with a tactile, visual and auditory environment. Children can work together with other children – sighted or visually impaired and hear auditory rewards to motivate success. A parent or non-Braille reader can also participate in the process of learning Braille through the provision of onscreen text. In this session you will learn how you can use BrailleStudio as a teaching tool in your education.