Innovative tool teaches braille to students without instructors

Why it matters to you

If successfully funded, the Read Read could bring literacy to a multitude of visually impaired people.

Visually impaired students can now learn to read braille on their own thanks to a new educational tool. Developed by researchers at the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Read Read uses a combination of tactile and audio feedback to teach the braille alphabet topeople who don’t have access to teachers.

Over the last half century, the use of braille has seen a decrease due in part to limited resources, to the point that most blind students in the United States are illiterate. In fact, only about 8.5 percent of blind students get enough focused instruction to learn braille, according to experts. Realizing this, master’s student Alex Tavares looked for a new method and tool for teaching braille that would allow students to do so autonomously.

The Read Read is relatively simple and easy to use, featuring large tiles with braille letters, which students can arrange in slots to form words. When a student places a tile in a slot, an audio file plays the phonetic sound of the letter. When a word is formed, the audio files sound out the word.

A twelve-week trial was recently help at the Perkins School for the Blind where students were given the opportunity to test the device.

“Students were extremely engaged with the Read Read,” Tavares told Digital Trends. “One student, who is blind and on the Autism spectrum, had struggled to learn the first ten letters of the alphabet all year long. Being on the Autism spectrum meant that taking traditional direct instruction was extremely challenging, and left the student unable to learn braille. The immediate audio feedback and exploratory platform provided by the Read Read allowed the student to practice braille with minimal guidance, and learn the first ten letters of the alphabet after only two days, practicing less than twenty minutes each day.”

Tavares and his team are now seeking support and funding for the Read Read on Kickstarter. They hope to raise $273,000 to give the tool to 400 students. Individual devices can also be purchased for $495.