Program 29th and 30th April 2021

For all people who are not able to read print, the road to learning to read is a bumpy one – an obvious reference to the tactile medium of braille dots (bumps on the page) which those readers will be using. But for some special populations of people for whom braille is their main or only option for reading independently, the road to becoming a reader is paved with additional bumps. Some of these lie within the individual. Some children have additional multiple disabilities which make it more difficult for them to learn. Some individuals lose vision later in life and reading print is no longer viable, and they encounter difficulties learning to read again in a tactile medium. Some of these bumps are created by our expectations as teachers. This keynote presentation will outline the various populations for whom braille literacy acquisition is challenging, the bumps that they face in becoming literate, and what we currently know about how to try to smooth out those bumps along the road for these groups of people for whom braille is their key to literacy and independence.

There is set time for two parallel sessions a day, and during one parallel session (60 minutes) you will have the chance to attend two parallel sessions (max. 25 minutes each). At the conference days, each parallel will have a link in their description, which will open the parallel session in a new window.

Which sessions you want to attend is up to you. You can choose from 39 parallels within 8 topics. We recommend that you get to know the selection of parallels before the conference starts. Below the program you will find the topics and short descriptions of their belonging parallels.

There is set time for two parallel sessions a day, and during one parallel session (60 minutes) you will have the chance to attend two parallel sessions (max. 25 minutes each). At the conference days, each parallel will have a link in their description, which will open the parallel session in a new window.

Which sessions you want to attend is up to you. You can choose from 39 parallels within 8 topics. We recommend that you get to know the selection of parallels before the conference starts. Below the program you will find the topics and short descriptions of their belonging parallels.

In the preparatory phase spatial orientation and spatial reasoning are vital elements, but less obvious for young Braille pupils. In our special school we developed specific materials with the goal to let them playfully gain experience in the spatial positions of a Braille cell and in other reading concepts. The ‘Braille house’ with associated materials and lesson suggestions will be introduced.

LEGO Braille Bricks is a playful tool to teach braille to children aged 4+. They learn braille, acquire academic skills through play in an inclusive setting. The pedagogical concept, based on holistic skills and Learning Through Play principles, ensures an optimal teaching method that empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners.

During the presentation, the instrument Tactual Profile MDVI will be introduced. This instrument was developed for observing tactual functioning of children and adults with multiple problems. In addition, Feel Free MDVI will be shown. This supplement describes activities to stimulate the sense of touch and follows the same structure as Tactual Profile MDVI.

One of the subcategories of Tactual Profile, the transformation of a 3D object into a 2D drawing was elaborated in a learning path. We distinguish 19 insights that need to be learned and explained to fully understand the relation between a tactile drawing and a 3D object. Some of the models and drawings which are specially developed to gain these insights will be demonstrated. 

I am blind since birth, and a relatively fluent Braille reader. From a user's perspective I want to share reflections about contracted Braille. I will talk about what it is, and what the benefits and disadvantages are. In Norway we published a new translation of the Bible in Braille a few years ago, and I will talk about how we designed that production. This is meant to illustrate the possibilities in offering contracted and uncontracted Braille at the same time, without increasing the costs substantially.

There is set time for two parallel sessions a day, and during one parallel session (60 minutes) you will have the chance to attend two parallel sessions (max. 25 minutes each). At the conference days, each parallel will have a link in their description, which will open the parallel session in a new window.

Which sessions you want to attend is up to you. You can choose from 39 parallels within 8 topics. We recommend that you get to know the selection of parallels before the conference starts. Below the program you will find the topics and short descriptions of their belonging parallels.

The following topics will be addressed:

• Digitalisation changes all schools, especially those with students with special needs
• New student efficiencies: easier access to content, faster learning, better communication tools
• New pedagogical tactics: speech assisted learning, multi-channel learning, AI, flipped classroom
• New sustainability culture: better inclusion, more cross-functionality, new partnerships
• Technical vs instrumental skills: both needed, the first is basic, the other is essential
• Care. Dare. Deliver.

There is set time for two parallel sessions a day, and during one parallel session (60 minutes) you will have the chance to attend two parallel sessions (max. 25 minutes each). At the conference days, each parallel will have a link in their description, which will open the parallel session in a new window.

Which sessions you want to attend is up to you. You can choose from 39 parallels within 8 topics. We recommend that you get to know the selection of parallels before the conference starts. Below the program you will find the topics and short descriptions of their belonging parallels.

Essential for preparing or continuing a visit to the museum, in this innovate book the children can touch realistic and 3-D representations of 6 typical objects of museums. The children have a greater understanding of how things work. For its publication, this book has had to face pedagogical and technological challenges. 

Understanding the value of blended teaching, bridging the gap between traditional and high-tech resources, to produce accessible multi-sensory learning that benefits children with blindness and visual impairments. The tactile diagrams also support educators who are blind to develop a better understanding of touch screen interaction through finger gestures.

"Here is Donald Duck!" is a bulky ring binder with tactile images and text in printed braille and in audio. We will show the images and discuss the explanations annex image descriptions, meant to explain visual concepts that are totally unknown to most blind.

In 2019 Dedicon investigated if people would like to personalize tactile maps with their own audio information in an outdoor situation. Based on these results we developed a portable twin vision prototype that works with QR-codes. It may serve as a blueprint for future developments when a reliable technique will allow for adding and reading information on specific spots of the map.  

Playing board games is a fun social activity. Dedicon will present an inclusive educational boardgame, that was developed together with visually impaired and sighted pupils. The board consists of a visual base with a transparent tactile overlay. Board your ship and embark on an exciting journey across the seas!

We will present a research project in order to design new multisensory books. In these books, tiny electronic components allow sound responses to be triggered in relation to gestures and manipulations made by the child. Preliminary results from prototype tests showed that understanding and the reading experience is enhanced with use of books combining gestures and sounds.

In France, a collection of 300 tactile images of works of art is being composed. Each image has a QR-code that leads to a website with explanation and high contrast images for partially sighted readers. The collection is a start to fill the cultural gap noted around the world by making art and the history of art accessible for visually impaired children, young people and adults.

There are four problems of practice that impact the tactile consumption and production practices of blind and sighted practitioners, researchers, and educators who are invested in making information and experiences accessible through touch. We will discuss these problems of practice and approaches to address them in ways that create fairness in information access and educational experiences.

In tactile rebuses, words are replaced with a tactile image or a concrete object. Tactile rebuses are a good reading motivational tool, as tactile illustrations in the text encourage children with blindness to follow the content together with their parents and to participate in pronouncing words.

We carried out the teaching practice of appropriate hand movements with one blind toddler using teaching materials. This presentation reports on the course of four years of instruction from Intake to elementary school entry. Participants will learn about the development of hand movements in toddler with blindness through the movie.

A Norwegian research project addresses how pre-braille activities can be included in kindergartens to promote literacy. Kindergarten staff described their interventions to stimulate emergent literacy, and their need of competence and support. Best practice, use of digital tools, and adaptations with the purpose of early intervention will be presented.

This presentation will focus on the value of multimodality on word memorization and comprehension. We examined the effect of combining touch and sound on animal names’ memorization with two children with visual impairment and language disabilities. Using a user-centered approach with five children, we investigated how illustrations in storybooks can be improved.

The presentation focus on teaching a child with blindness and additional difficulties to read and write Braille. It includes pictures and video examples from practice; creative, individualized and untraditional activities to motivate for learning, and use of tactile symbols and schedules to structure the environment, communication, and learning. It also gives examples of Braille tasks on Flexiboard and Mountbatten Brailler.

Tactile learners develop literacy skills along a fluid continuum of motor, tactile, conceptual, and emotional skills. Presenters will share a checklist of these crucial skills to help identify where students are functioning along this continuum. Activities and resources for both evaluation and instruction are included for each skill.

During this session a new decision tree will be introduced which can be used when we have doubts about the form of literacy a child uses is still appropriate. Different aspects will be assessed and judged to make the appropriate choice for this child, considering its visual impairment, its capacities and the -for this child -specific environment.

The digital age has undeniably reached the classroom. Yet, people with reading impairments have been using digital study materials for decades. We believe that EPUB provides the way forward for digital reading. It lets us build a highly personalizable, multi-modal product that rolls many tailor-made accessible formats into one book suitable for everyone.

In the Netherlands, a group of teachers have collaborated with a tactile designer to develop a unique series of simple braille picture books aimed at stimulating early braille literacy. In this session we will explain the underlying criteria and demonstrate how children with different braille reading levels can benefit from these books.

This presentation will focus on a competition for excellence in braille reading. The Braille Challenge, conducted annually, is a tool for motivation and instruction support. We will discuss data related to students' participation in the Challenge including types of braille errors, Implications on students' confidence and skills and teacher/parent expectations.

A Degree Project about braille-reading pupils’ difficulties and strategies in the English education. Lack of time give short-term goals higher priority than tactile reading and improved ICT skills. Extramural English is consumed, not produced, since arenas to co-create are inaccessible, contrary to sighted peers who practice English in multiplayer online gaming.

This session will discuss techniques and materials that can be used when teaching print readers who are moving to braille. The focus is on meaning and utility for the learner, using individualized strategies that are interesting and motivating.

“An and Jan” and “Where am I?” are two preparatory topographical methods, with an addition for maths. The lessons are clearly described, and 3D materials and tactile graphics help visual impaired pupils to work with scales, coordinates, routes, diagrams, calibration and outline.

Proposed paper reflects the Latvian experience of education of visually impaired students performed in state’s only specialized school and development center – Riga Strazdumuiza Secondary School Training Center, with particular accent on methodology of preparation and use of 3D and 2D tactile analogues of visual information in general education agenda.

In a 3-year project, researchers at Monash University have partnered with practitioners and user representatives across Australia and New Zealand to investigate the use and design of 3D models for touch readers. This presentation will share results of user testing and guidelines for tactile 3D prints.

Have you ever wanted to make your own learning aids? Well we have. You`ll get to hear about the tactile 3d printed learning aids “tiles” and “letter-beads”, and both the technical production and the pedagogical aspects of them. You might get a new learning aid surprise unveiling as well.

What kind of learning material in maths will pupils using braille need in the future? Do they need hard copy braille and tactile images in a digital school? The video will present an ongoing project which aims to gain better knowledge of pupils needs for adapted study material in mathematics.

The presentation focuses solutions that have been performed as part of a project. A main object is to offer Braille-reading pupils simply the same textbooks as their classmates, but simultaneous implement research literature and educational experiences from the field of visual impairment into these textbooks.

Pupils come to school with many ideas about number, - ideas that should be built upon as they learn to add and subtract. This presentation addresses number concepts and number operations among first graders with VI, and a method of obtaining information about basic number concepts and skills. 

Braille output and interactive multimedia music tools are vital for blind musicians for learning, composing, or performing. We published prioritized sector requirements and are making strategic improvements to tools and file formats to secure the effective and efficient production of music braille for the future, by agencies and end-users themselves.

Braille music is essential for blind musicians to analyze and perform music scores. Dedicon has made several attempts to encourage blind students to learn braille music. We discovered a lack of knowledge among sighted musicians and braille teachers. In this presentation we will propose solutions and we would be open for a discussion on how to tackle this problem (internationally).

Tactile images with explanation make the transmission of information exact and concise. However, many adults have never learnt to read them. We developed a course and material where the acquired skills can be practiced, like a tactile volume of “Notre Dame” (including a 3D model). In this presentation we guide you through both the course and the book.

This study explored the experiences of working-age and older adults with vision loss who have learned braille, including enablers and obstacles encountered throughout the braille learning process. Findings highlight that adult braille learning is characterized by personal, social, and institutional factors. Implications for research, policy and practice will be discussed.

Attendees will learn that the modality in which individuals who are blind encounter information, and the amount of effort required to process information, can impact their learning. Decisions about how to create materials and whether to share them tactually or auditorily should therefore be made with care.

Does two-handed braille reading offer advantages over single-handed reading, and what perceptual mechanisms might underlie them? We tracked the finger positions of blind adults during a braille reading task, analyzing reading styles, performance compared to one-handed reading in the same participants, regressive movements, and functional division between the hands.

Participants will gain perspective on the present educational opportunities available to children with Blindness and visual impairment in India and challenges in facilitating inclusive education. The session will revolve around the role of technology in delivering quality education in native language to young learners in an affordable and efficient manner.

Combining experience in explaining difficult concepts needed for understanding tactile graphics with know-how in the area of IT, is the basis for developing a program for promoting the importance of tactile graphics and for starting a network of teacher training centers equipped with affordable resources for introducing learners to tactile diagrams.

In this presentation we will share practical implications from two tactile graphics research studies. One study investigated the strategies and hand movements used by students who successfully interacted with tactile graphics, and the other study investigated the usefulness of the AnimalWatch Vi: Building Graphics Literacy iPad app and curriculum.

This presentation will provide concrete examples of educational uses of Multisensory Interactive and Tangible Documents. We will describe the usability of the tools as well as their impact on learning processes for children with visual impairments. We will also describe the usability of the tools from a professional perspective.