Clovernook hosts Braille challenge at Cincinnati Museum Center

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - In collaboration with the Braille Institute of America, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired hosted more than 40 students from all over Ohio at the Cincinnati Museum Center with the sixth annual Ohio Regional Braille Challenge.

Students competed in a series of five skills and contests demonstrating Braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading and tactile graphics.

Winners will be announced once grading is completed in April. Once the winners are announced, they’ll receive cash prizes, trophies, and for the top academics, the opportunity to compete in the challenge finals held in Los Angeles this summer.

Chris Faust, President and CEO of Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said, “[students] do some [tests] where it’s skills in terms of their Braille writing. There’s also a listening and audio tape where then you would also transcribe your Braille. And so, you have to also have your math, you have to have other skills [such as] reading retention, and so it is pretty challenging, so we try to integrate a little bit of fun into the day too.”

In addition to the challenge, students learned about beats and danced to music.

During the student’s breaks, the dinosaur exhibit was also a space for the kids to enjoy.

The Ohio Regional Braille Challenge has a purpose aside from learning and having fun, according to Faust.

“The purpose of the [Ohio Regional] Braille Challenge is to see what their skill levels are, and it’s to challenge them in those things, but it’s really about confidence and tying back to our mission in terms of allowing people to be full participants in the community and have their independence,” Faust added.

Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, according to Faust, is the largest producer of Braille material in the world; producing over thirty million Braille pages every year.

For more information about Clovernook, click here.

To learn more about the Braille Institute of America, click here.

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