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Effects of Handedness and Blindness on Braille Reading Accuracy

Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders volume 1, pages 141–148 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Research results with regard to handedness and braille reading performance are contradictory. The present study investigated (a) the effects of handedness on braille reading performance in people with blindness (or severe visual impairment) and (b) the potential effects of vision loss (or type) of blindness on braille reading. Forty-nine (27 males and 22 females) aged 8 to 27 years participated in three braille reading accuracy tasks with a subset of a standardized instrument, which evaluated reading accuracy in Greek language. Handedness was defined through a modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. The analysis showed that handedness was not significantly related to any task of braille reading accuracy. Level of vision loss was found to play an important role in reading accuracy, favoring the participants with blindness regardless of hand preference. The results may add to the literature by providing evidence that it is possible for braille-reading students to incorporate both hands in reading, regardless of which hand is dominant.

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Acknowledgments

This study constitutes a part of the project “Handedness and Braille Literacy in Individuals with Severe Visual Impairments,” which is implemented under the “ARISTEIA” Action of the “OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING” and is co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and National Resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, Argonafton & Filellinon, University of Thessaly, 38221, Volos, Greece

    Filippos M. Vlachos, Vassilios S. Argyropoulos & Vassilios D. Papadimitriou

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  1. Filippos M. Vlachos
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  2. Vassilios S. Argyropoulos
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  3. Vassilios D. Papadimitriou
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Contributions

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. FMV designed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the paper. VSA collaborated with the design and writing of the paper and the editing of the final manuscript. VDP executed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote parts of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vassilios S. Argyropoulos.

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Ethics Statement

The authors followed the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and obtained signed consent from the participants using the appropriate forms and procedures suggested by the World Medical Association. Specifically, the authors obtained consent from the Greek Institute of Educational Policy (GIEP), which was established in 2011 with Public Law 3966 (Government Gazette_118/24-05-2011). GIEP operates for the benefit of public interest as an executive scientific body that supports the Greek Ministry of Education, Research, and Religious Affairs.

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Vlachos, F.M., Argyropoulos, V.S. & Papadimitriou, V.D. Effects of Handedness and Blindness on Braille Reading Accuracy. Adv Neurodev Disord 1, 141–148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-017-0020-x

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