A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LOW VISION AND BLIND BRAILLING ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SOME VISUALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

Abstract

This study sought to know whether Braille reading print. The low vision subjects are persons who could rightly be said to be blind but possess residual vision. This group of visually handicapped have been made to adopt braille reading as a means of communication. Since there is no empirical evidence to support either the braille or bold print reading as a better means of communication, it is necessary that the area is empirically studied. English and Mathematics Achievement Tests designed by professionals were used. The internal consistency of the tests were determined by the use of the Split Half Raliability. ('r' for English I = 0.86; English II= 0.83; 'r' for Mathematics I and II = 0.87 and 0.88 respectively). 26 Low Vision Children representing a natural cluster sample from Pacelli school for the blind Lagos were involved in this study. The 2 x 2 factorial design was adopted using Analysis of Covarianco for the analysis of data. The hypotheses tested during this study were: 1. There is no significant difference in the English achievement of low vision subjects who used braille and those who used bold print. 2. There is no significant difference in the English achievement of low vision high academic ability subjects and low vision low academic ability subjects when they use braille and when they use bold print. 3. There is no significant difference in the Mathematics achievement of low vision subjects who used braille and those who used bold print. 4. There is no significant difference in the Mathematics achievement of low vision high academic ability subjects when they use braille and when they use bold print Hypotheses 1, 2, 3 and 4 were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), while the data collected was further analysed using ‘t'-test. Hypothesis 1 was rejected. (F = 55.40, df= 1/22, P 0.01). The low vision high academic ability bold print readers were found to be superior to low vision high academic braille readers in English. (t = 12.51, df= 12,P 0.001). The low vision low academic ability bold print readers were found to be superior to the low vision low academic ability braille readers in English (t = 13.6, df= 10, P 0.001). Hypothesis 2 was rejected. (F = 16.18, df = 1/22, P 0.01). The low vision high academic ability Braille users were found to be superior to low vision low academic ability braille users in English. (t = 7.67, df= 11, P 0. 001 ).The low vision high academic ability bold point users were found to be superior to the low .vision low academic ability bold print users in English. (t = 7.19, df= 11, p 0. 001). Hypothesis 3 was rejected. (F = 35.9, df=1/22,P 0.01). The low vision high academic ability bold print readers were found to be superior to the low vision high academic ability braille readers in Mathematics. (t =17.0, df= 12, P 0.001). The low vision low academic ability bold print readers were found to be superior to the low vision low academic ability braille readers in Mathematics. (t= 5.7, df=10, P 0.001). Hypothesis 4 was rejected. (F = 52.7, df= 1/22, P 0.01). The low vision high academic ability Braille readers were found to be superior to low vision low academic ability braille readers in Mathematics. (t = 16.5, df= 11, P 0.001). The low vision high academic ability bold print readers were found to be superior to low vision low academic ability bold print readers in Mathematics. (t = 21.16, df= 11, P 0.001). Slow maturity in braille reading is among the reasons put forward to explain the trends of the findings. Suggestions arc made for further research.