Braille in public school: it is the default method and departing from it must be justified

It is the law that flips the burden at the IEP table. Instead of the family having to convince the school that their child needs Braille, the law makes Braille the default fundamental method and requires the Multidisciplinary Placement Committee to issue a justified certification if it is going to depart from it. And it gives the parent or custodian the express power to request that instruction be fundamentally in Braille.

A blind student, under the law, is an individual who requires special education services and meets any of these: that, notwithstanding the use of glasses, they have functional vision of 20/200 or less in their better eye limiting their visual field diameter to an angular distance of no more than 20 degrees; that they have a diagnosis of a progressively deteriorating visual condition; or that, although they have functional vision allowing them to read, their diagnosis of progressive visual deterioration is such that they are foreseeably unable to read print in the near future. The law speaks of Puerto Rico’s public schools.

• That it has been established and certified that the student is blind or partially blind, under the law’s definition.Verified against the official source
• That the student require special education services, an element forming part of this law’s definition of a blind student.Verified against the official source

• Medical certification of the student’s visual status, which the law requires be included in the Individualized Education Program document.

1. 1

   Step 1: The starting point is Braille, not the exception

   Once it is established and certified that a student is blind or partially blind, that student’s education shall be carried out fundamentally through the Braille System. That is the rule. The exception applies only if the Multidisciplinary Placement Committee certifies, based on the student’s evaluation, that Braille is not the appropriate method.

2. 2

   Step 2: Ask for the certification and read it against the standard

   The law sets a standard for that certification: it must justify, in terms of the student’s long-term academic achievement, that the Braille System is not the appropriate method for their education. “Long-term” is the phrase to cite when the justification rests only on how the student is doing this year.

3. 3

   Step 3: Parents may request it directly

   The text is express: the student’s parents or custodians have the power to request that the student be taught fundamentally in Braille. It is not a suggestion the school may treat as an informal preference; the law recognizes it as a power.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check that the IEP carries the four elements

   The Individualized Education Program document must include: the medical certification of the student’s visual status; how the student’s education through the Braille System will be implemented; the period during which Braille will be taught; and the reading and writing comprehension level proposed for that period, with the parameters used to measure it. An IEP lacking these is incomplete under this law.

5. 5

   Step 5: And the five elements of the individualized program

   Each student’s individualized education program must also include: the evaluation result; how Braille will be integrated as a teaching method into the rest of the curricular activities; the start date of Braille education; the period that instruction will cover, with the number and duration of each class; and the reading and writing comprehension level proposed, with its measurement parameters. The number and duration of each class is the datum that keeps “he gets Braille” from being empty.

6. 6

   Step 6: Assistive technology does not replace Braille: it adds

   The law resolves it in the same sentence that sets Braille: that student must have access to and may benefit from, if they so wish, assistive technology services or devices. The statement of motives is even clearer: although the law establishes Braille as the fundamental teaching method, it is essential that all alternative reading instruments be available, along with instruction in them for the student who requires it.

7. 7

   Step 7: Books and teachers: duties of the Department

   The Department of Education shall require every publishing house that publishes books for the curriculum to supply a copy of the material on a computer disk in ASCII format, including subjects such as science, mathematics and music in addition to literary topics, and shall designate a commission of no more than nine members to enforce that provision. And every teacher certified as a teacher of blind or visually impaired students must demonstrate, as part of the certification process, adequate skill and competence in Braille writing and reading, evaluated by a certification committee under the standards of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress.

The table where this is decided is the Multidisciplinary Placement Committee, within the Individualized Education Program process. If the school does not comply, the special education complaint before the Department of Education is the route we cover in its own guide. For the general rights of persons with disabilities, that is another guide.

• Accepting that Braille be ruled out without a Multidisciplinary Placement Committee certification.
• Accepting a justification based only on this year’s performance: the law requires long-term justification.
• Believing assistive technology replaces Braille: the law gives access to both.
• Thinking the law covers only the totally blind student: the definition includes progressive visual deterioration.
• Accepting an IEP that does not state the number and duration of each Braille class.
• Not using parents’ express power to request instruction fundamentally in Braille.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico

  Educación

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Education

  Departamento de Educación

  www.de.pr.gov