Contract Open

Development of a Novel System of Tactile Diacritics for Teaching Phonics to Individuals with Visual Impairments and Blindness Using Physical Manipulatives and Immediate Audio Feedback

NCSER

Program: Small Business Innovation Research

Award amount: $250,000

Project director: Alex Tavares

Awardee:

T-var EdTech, Inc.

Year: 2025

Award period: 8 months (09/12/2025 - 05/11/2026)

Project type:

Phase I Development

Contract number: 91990025C0098

Purpose

For blind adults, braille literacy directly correlates with academic achievement and employment (NBP, 2024); however, only 8% of blind children in the US are being taught braille today (APH, 2023; NBP, 2024; NFB, 2022). Most blind students attend public schools, where they receive braille instruction from itinerant specialists (TVI’s). Most TVI’s are not trained in phonics instruction. K-3 general education teachers are trained to teach reading, but not braille. We are developing a tool that allows TVI’s and general education teachers to scaffold fledgling braille readers. While common diacritic conventions have been developed to scaffold phonics learning for typically-sighted students, no such system has been developed for BVI students. In this project, we will build on foundational user experience research to iteratively design and pilot a novel system of tactile diacritics for teaching phonics to students who are visually impaired and blind.

Project Activities

The project team will build on foundational user experience research to iteratively design and pilot a novel system of tactile diacritics for teaching phonics to students who are visually impaired and blind. This system will be integrated into an existing prototype of The Read Read™, a physical device that allows all people to independently learn and practice phonics and braille, in between meetings with teachers and specialists. During Phase I, we will elicit feedback from approximately 10 TVI’s and 25 BVI students to iteratively design the novel system of tactile phonics diacritics. At the end of the Phase I R&D, researchers will conduct interviews to determine how well the new system of tactile phonics diacritics meets its usability and feasibility objectives, conduct concept testing for the intended Phase II product, and lay the groundwork for Phase II implementation and evaluation activities.