by Penny Reeder
In a classroom at East Islip High School in Islip Terrace, New York, there are 13 students between the ages of 15 and 18 who are spending this school year learning to read, write, and transcribe braille. Most of these students are not blind, and some had never even seen a braille dot before they signed up for Dr. Sheila Amato's course in order to satisfy their careers and technology high school credit requirement, but each has already begun to master a skill which will offer employment and satisfaction for a lifetime. The course follows the syllabus for the transcriber certification program outlined by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). Upon achieving high school graduation, successful completion of the course requirements and the submission of a trial manuscript to the NLS, each student will be entitled to earn NLS certification as a literary braille transcriber. What a great way to introduce students to an array of challenging and worthwhile career options while beginning to solve the critical problem of an escalating shortfall in braille transcriptionists!
Dr. Sheila Amato, who is a teacher of students who are deaf- blind, a university instructor for courses in literary braille and Nemeth Code, and an experienced braille transcriber herself, brought the idea of teaching the skills of braille transcription to the local school board late last year.
"My passion for braille merged with the reality that we are approximately 5,000 teachers short of being able to fulfill presently identified needs," Amato explains. "I thought that by offering a credit-bearing course in braille, it might pique the interest of some of the students, and introduce them to the opportunity to pursue several interesting careers."
Amato interested high school administrators in housing the course under the Careers and Technology Department and then sold it to members of the local Board of Education. American Sign Language (ASL) has become a popular course choice for high school students during recent years, and Amato took advantage of this rather widespread interest in alternative communications paradigms. She visited an ASL class in the district, and also held a mini-workshop on the topic of braille transcription for guidance counselors, so they would become knowledgeable about the course and promote it to their students.
According to Mary Lou Stark, head of the braille development section of the NLS, Amato's course is the only high school level course in literary braille transcription being offered in the United States at the present time. Amato says that the NLS has been extremely supportive.
The students began learning to transcribe with Perkins braillers, and once the code was "cemented" in their consciousnesses, Amato told me, they progressed to slates and styli and the Duxbury braille translation software. The Helen Keller Braille Library in Hempstead, NY loaned the students 20 braillers for the year.
Amato was determined that her students would gain a working knowledge of the braille code and some appreciation for its intricacies before they were introduced to the automation which a system like Duxbury makes possible.
"I want them to see the necessity of learning the braille code first, and not to develop the attitude that anyone with access to a computer and a couple hundred dollars can produce quality braille. Accuracy and knowledge of the code, leading to quality transcription, is my primary goal," Amato says. "They need to become proficient first."
I met Sheila Amato on the AER listserv. When she told me about the innovative program for preparing high school students to become certified braille transcribers, we were both excited about sharing details with readers of "The Braille Forum." It seemed to be a perfect topic for the January issue, since January, which was the month of Louis Braille's birth, is always designated as Braille Literacy Month.
"I hope other schools will be motivated to copy our program," Amato told me. "It's not perfect, and I'm making some of the rules up as I go along. But the students are fascinated, and I'm thrilled by their interest, determination and perseverance." The Students
Six of the students are girls, and seven are boys. Five are in special education programs at East Islip High School, and the rest are in regular education programs. The students represent a cross section of high school interests, motivations and abilities. There's a member of the marching band, one cheerleader, a member of the varsity wrestling squad, and two members of the varsity football team.
The program is already opening up possibilities for Amato's students. "My students have already been offered salaried jobs upon completion of the NLS transcription certification process and receiving their high school diplomas," she says. "They have been offered jobs as braille transcribers at the Helen Keller Library, as well as positions at the Helen Keller National Center in Sands Point, N.Y., where, after working full-time for one year, and continuing full time employment, they have been promised that the HKNC will pay for their college tuition and books in full. One of my students is interested in becoming a teacher of students who are deaf-blind, and Dominican College has offered to create a five-year program for her, leading to a master's degree in blindness and visual impairment (BVI), with a scholarship. They will have many options open for them upon successful completion of this course."
Amato meets with the students for 45 minutes each day, so they will be receiving a total of 130 hours of classroom instruction over the course of the year.
Amato says, "I'm hoping I can turn out some certified transcribers with that gift of time. Since the braille code is the braille code, I am holding them to the same standards that I hold my graduate students to in terms of accuracy and performance. And, for the most part, they are achieving my expectations for them."
Amato and her students have been invited to take a field trip to the American Printing House for the Blind in the spring. The Future?
Amato says that her students are doing a great job of selling the course to others who may want to investigate braille transcription as a possible career option for themselves next year at East Islip High School. Just last week, Amato received permission to develop a second braille transcription course, to commence with the September 2002 school year. The course, which will boost the number of braille courses offered under the Careers and Technology umbrella to two, will be called "Advanced Braille Transcription," and it will cover topics like advanced computer braille transcription, methods for transcribing teacher materials, and the Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science. The second-year course will be offered exclusively to those students who have completed the first-year braille course successfully.
"My students are so proud of themselves for being able to do something that no other high schooler in the USA can boast of doing," she says. "As early as November (when the course had been offered for only a couple of months), I had students walking up to me in the high school corridors, asking if they could join class for the second semester which starts in January."
Since this pilot course is expected to run for two full semesters, those students will have to wait until next spring to register for the 2002 course which will begin again in September. I join Dr. Amato in hoping that her course can serve as a model for developers of the high school curricula in Careers and Technology. What a marvelous way to interest kids in careers that can be satisfying as well as making a positive difference for blind and visually impaired readers of braille for generations to come!