Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness

Three groups of visually impaired persons (two middle aged and one old) were investigated with respect to memory and understanding of texts presented with speech synthesis and natural speech, respectively. The results showed that speech synthesis generally yielded lower results than did natural speech. Experience had no effect on performance, and there were only marginal effects related to age. However, there were big differences among the groups with respect to the presentation speed chosen in the speech-synthesis condition.

Obtaining accurate counts of children who are deaf-blind is important for planning resource distribution and program development and implementation. Yet accuracy has been difficult to achieve for a number of reasons. This article reports the results of policy research that examined various strategies implemented by the U.S. federal government to obtain data on child counts and the issues related to this effort and its outcomes.

This article illustrates the use of the alternating treatment design to assess the effectiveness of individualized interventions in low vision rehabilitation. The design was used to determine if enlarging copy with a photocopier and adding contrast would be effective in reducing the amount of time a visually impaired student required to read a map and graph. Two levels of magnification were compared to determine the level of intervention to be provided.

This article presents a general overview of the process of designing and using metaphors in adjustment counseling by rehabilitation teachers and other professionals who work with persons who are blind. The metaphorical stories contained in this article were taken from the author's caseload as a rehabilitation teacher.