She Makes Braille Look Easy
By Braille Monitor,Publication Date: October 2001
Profile of Kayla Bentas, an elementary-school student and Braille user. An introductory Note from the Editor urges Braille educators to enter students in the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest, and presents the article, which originally appeared in the May 30, 2001 edition of the Salem (Mass.) Evening News, as an inspiration. Kayla, who became blind following brain surgery to remove a benign tumor, received Braille instruction in fourth grade. While, according to her teacher, it normally takes a student a school year and two summers to become proficient in Braille, Kayla learned it in four months. It takes her about thirty seconds to type the alphabet on a Perkins Brailler. She has placed third in the country in the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind, by reading 2,451 pages in three months. At the time of the publication of the article, she was at the top of her school’s academic honor roll. Although Kayla did not like reading when she could see, she reports that now reading is a favorite subject, second only to spelling.
Published by: National Federation of the Blind (Website:http://www.nfb.org)
Link to text: http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm01/bm0110/bm011008.htm
