When we think of Braille, we usually associate it with information and its transmission.
But learning and using Braille changes much more than that: it sharpens our perception, promotes new connections in the brain, and strengthens our ability to perceive the world in different ways. This creates equality in areas we often don’t even think about.
Judit Gombás highlights these exciting connections and summarizes them in a concise statement.
Thank you, Judit, for your interesting thoughts and for sharing them with us.
Why learn Braille
It is obvious for all that information and knowledge can be widely spread thanks to reading and writing. Similarly, the education of masses would not exist without reading and writing. The wonderful invention of Louis Braille gave blind people equal access to knowledge, education and work. The processs of learning to read and write braille is as important in blind children’s brain development as it is for sighted children. While decoding braille dots, complex processes are carried out in the brain, and the following areas develop:
 1. Brain Plasticity: in blind children, the brain reorganizes itself: the visual cortex , which normally processes sight, is recruited to help process tactile input.
2. Fine motor skills and tactile discrimination : fingertips become highly sensitive to tiny differences in raised dots, and learn to understand what they feel.
3. Literacy Development: like print for sighted children, braille allows phonological awareness, vocabulary growth, understanding and using precise grammar, and comprehension of a written text.
4. Memory and Cognitive Processing: Braille develop stronger working memory and sequential processing skills, which are absolutely necessary in learning.
5. Spatial Mapping: braille letters are felt in a spatial grid of six dots. While reading braille, children practice to orient in the grid and on a written page, and consequently develop mental mapping skills.
The processing of auditory information is never as profound as that of reading by touch. Reading braille allows in-depth memorising of information, which helps braille readers to be more successful not only at school but also at work.
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