Hi, Richard!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   RW>  AFrican signal or war drums require a whole lot of   
   RW>  of space to capture [...] as those drums are designed   
   RW>  to be heard.   
      
      
             Ah... like the Scottish war pipes, I guess.  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  .   
      
      
             How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm   
             After they've seen Paree?      
      
                                        -- Joe Young & Sam M. Lewis, 1918   
      
      
      
   RW>  at that time became the beginning of the big slide down   
   RW>  the slope of braille illiteracy, which is a crying shame.   
   RW>  THey were doing experiments with kids reading large print,   
   RW>  even with desktop magnifiers, etc.  I'm sure in Canada as   
   RW>  well, from stats I"ve seen, but there is currently a   
   RW>  worldwide braille literacy crisis among blind children.   
      
      
             I find the trend disturbing too.  A family friend who graduates from   
   elementary school this year has a rare syndrome which is causing deterioration   
   in her vision.  Years ago I had a student who was in a similar position... and   
   who got Braille lessons from an itinerant teacher who came to the school.  Our   
   friend's mother wants her to learn Braille because she's reached a point where   
   the printing has to be enlarged so much that even at elementary level a single   
   word may not necessarily fit onto a single page.  But it seems that everywhere   
   Mom goes looking for help she's told "We don't do Braille any more"... (sigh).   
      
      
      
   RW>  part of that is the mistaken belief that synthesized   
   RW>  speech, etc. can supplant braille.   
      
      
             I don't believe it can... not yet, at any rate.  I've heard what the   
   synthesized speech on a GPS makes of "Lougheed Highway", "Shaughnessy Street",   
   etc.  And as one who's taught developmental reading I understand how important   
   it is to be able to read words in groups & to notice subtleties in intonation.   
      
      
      
   RW>  DUring the formative years especially it's good for   
   RW>  children to actually "see" written language, even if   
   RW>  they "see" it with their fingers, and audio doesn't   
   RW>  quite make the same connection to the brain.   
      
      
             Makes sense to me.  There is now an increasing body of evidence that   
   human beings can "see" via the skin & I think our friend would take to Braille   
   like a duck to water.  She is very sensitive to touch, and she already knows a   
   bit of sign language.  As a teacher I generally found a multi-sensory approach   
   most effective... i.e. the more connections one can establish the better.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)