Luis González-García, Ph.D. Psychologist at the National Organisation of the Spanish Blind

Reading speed and comprehension in braille

In this session Luis will present the results of a comparative study on the performance in reading speed and comprehension. The study consisted of a group of 122 blind people (braille readers) and a group of 133 sighted people (ink readers), which academic levels were from 5th degree to University, in relation to different personal factors (academic level, blindness onset, experience in braille reading, braille reading pattern, etc.).

The results show that, although the reading speed of the blind group is two-three times slower than that of the sighted people, both groups show similar levels of reading comprehension in braille and ink, respectively. The developmental pattern in reading comprehension of the blind group is different from that of the sighted group in relation to the academic level. Although, the blind children show a relative delay in reading comprehension at the first levels compared to sighted children, at later levels the delay disappears. In this session you will learn about reading speed and comprehension and Luis will discuss the result and the meaning of it.