CEU Article

A Longitudinal Study of Reading

Development, Academic
Achievement, and Support
in Swedish Inclusive Education
for Students with Blindness
or Severe Visual Impairment
Kim de Verdier and Ulla Ek
Structured abstract: Introduction: This longitudinal study examined reading devel-
opment, academic achievement and support in school for six students with blindness
or severe visual impairments in inclusive educational settings. Methods: School
grades and results from reading observations and decoding skills tests were col-
lected, and interviews were conducted with students, parents, and teachers. Results:
The results show that the outcome of these students’ schooling varied a great deal
regarding both levels of academic achievement and reading development, as well as
in the support needed and received. Students with additional disabilities had less
positive experiences in school, and the parents of these students were more critical
of the support provided by the schools. Discussion: Important aspects of the out-
comes concerned the attitudes held by school management and teachers and the
competence of teachers. In some cases, teachers lacked sufficient knowledge about
braille and teaching methods for students with visual impairments. Implications for
practitioners: The findings imply that the support system for students with visual
impairments in Sweden needs to be more systematized in order to secure equal
educational opportunities for all students.

In Sweden, all students with visual im-
pairments (that is, those who are blind or
have low vision) without major additional
disabilities have attended general educa-
tion classrooms in local schools since the
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mid-1980s. Fewer than 10 Swedish chil-
dren per year are born blind or with a visual
acuity so low that they become braille
readers (Blohmé & Tornqvist, 2007).
Therefore, teachers normally have no pre-
vious experience of educating a child with
no or very limited vision. Resource Centre
Vision (RCV) is a part of the Swedish Na-
tional Agency for Special Needs Educa-
tion, a government agency that provides
support to schools concerning students

©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014 461
 CEU Article
with functional disabilities. RCV offers
interdisciplinary assessments of visually
impaired students, pedagogical advice,
and courses in braille and teaching meth-
ods provided by staff members who spe-
cialized in the field of visual impairment.
However, RCV does not have the respon-
sibility of regularly sending their staff
members to schools in order to provide
instruction directly to the students, unlike
the model applied in some other coun-
tries. The responsibility for the students’
education, including braille instruction,
lies on the regular or general education
classroom teacher.
We previously reported a study of Swed-
ish visually impaired students who started
first grade at the beginning of the 21st cen-
tury. The study group consisted of all Swed-
ish children with visual impairments; who
did not have identified additional disabili-
ties; who were born in a specific year; and
who, after being assessed by RCV, had re-
ceived recommendations to use braille as
their primary reading medium (n ⫽ 7). The
focus of the study was to describe facilita-
tors and barriers for the inclusion of those
seven students (Rönnbäck, de Verdier,
Winberg, & Baraldi, 2010).
Aim of the present study
When the students entered ninth grade
(the last year of Swedish compulsory ed-
ucation), the present study was initiated
with the intention of summing up the ac-
ademic levels of the students and their
experiences of support in school. The
aims of the study were to report:
• how the students progressed in school,
according to school grades and parents’
and teachers’ descriptions;
462 Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
• the students’ reading development, de-
coding skills, and reading comprehen-
sion, according to teachers’ descrip-
tions, reading observations, and testing;
• students’, teachers’, and parents’ reflec-
tions concerning accessibility, support,
and aspects of school work, particularly
reading; and
• implications for the support system for stu-
dents with blindness or severe visual im-
pairments in Swedish inclusive education.
Methods
PROCEDURE
In the students’ ninth-grade year, an in-
vitation letter was sent to all seven fam-
ilies and schools. Consent was received
from six families. Data were collected as
described below. The Regional Ethical
Review Board in Stockholm approved the
study, which was conducted according to
the Declaration of Helsinki. Since the
study group was very small, the students
might be easily identified. Consideration
has therefore been given to protect ano-
nymity as much as possible; for example,
we have not stated the students’ individ-
ual gender, and details about the families
and schools have been omitted.
PARTICIPANTS
The study group consisted of three boys
and three girls, 15 years old, four with
blindness and two with severe visual im-
pairments. Etiology of their visual impair-
ments, as well as visual function and
data from psychological assessments,
were provided with consent from parents
(see Table 1). Three students had no
additional disabilities, but three, since
the previous study (Rönnbäck et al.,
2010), had been diagnosed with: ADHD
(student 1), intellectual disability (student
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved
 CEU Article
Table 1
Demographic characteristics in ninth grade.
Student

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6

ONH
Visual function: visual 0.04 limited visual field, 0.07 limited visual field, NLP NLP NLP NLP
acuity close range reduced adaptation oculomotor
(symbols presented in to light and problems
rows), other functional darkness
problems
Additional disability ADHD No No ID No AS
Type of school L L L S L L
Assisting teacher available Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Teacher qualification Yes – No Yes (SEN) Yes Yes
Adapted curriculum Yes No No Yes No Yes
Individual extra training Some No No Often No Some

ONH ⫽ Optic Nerve Hypoplasia; NLP ⫽ no light perception; ADHD ⫽ Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder; AS ⫽ Asperger’s syndrome; L ⫽ local school, general education classroom; S ⫽ special
school for students with visual impairments and learning disabilities; SEN ⫽ special educational needs
teacher.

4), and Asperger’s syndrome (student 6) C, D, and E (different levels of passing),

(APA, 1994). All except student 4 had
cognitive skills on at least an average
level, according to psychological assess-
ments and teachers’ descriptions. Five at-
tended general education classrooms
throughout compulsory school. In grade
7, student 4 chose to move to a special
school for students with visual impair-
ments and learning disabilities. All but
student 2 had access to assisting teach-
ers or paraeducators who worked to-
gether with classroom teachers and pro-
vided extra support to the students
throughout their school days. The educa-
tional level of these paraeducators varied
from having teacher qualifications to having
no pedagogical education (see Table 1).
DATA COLLECTION
Individual grades in each subject from the
eighth and ninth school grades (at the
time of the study, all Swedish students
received their first grades in the eighth
grade) were collected. Grades were set
using a national scale of six grades: A, B,
and F (fail).
Results from individual reading obser-
vations conducted once a year (in grades
one to seven) by specialist teachers at
RCV were collected. Each student read
the same text aloud in an individual set-
ting. Correct words and words per minute
(wpm) were noted. Comprehension was
assessed through questions about the con-
tents. The texts were matched to age-
appropriate levels of difficulty based on
the length of the words. These texts have
been used in-house for many years at
RCV to measure the reading skills of vi-
sually impaired students. However, it is
not a standardized test.
We also collected results from two sub-
tests of the Swedish reading skills test LS
(LS-test), which is a diagnostic test that
assesses the reading and writing skills of
primary and secondary school students
(Johansson, 2004), distributed in the ninth
grade by the general education teachers.
The LS-test is standardized for sighted
Swedish students and was used to provide

©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014 463
 CEU Article
a measure of decoding skills and reading
speed for visually impaired students com-
pared to sighted readers of the same age.
Each student was given the same two
subtests (lists of regular words and non-
sense words) in an individual setting.
Correct words, time, and reading quotient
(number of correct words divided by
time) were measured and transformed
into Stanine scores (M ⫽ 5, SD ⫽ 2).
Individual, semistructured interviews
were performed in the ninth grade with
each student, one parent, and one teacher.
The interviews covered:
• parents’ and teachers’ descriptions of the
students’ general level of achievement in
all stages of compulsory school, and their
reflections on academic demands and
evaluation;
• teachers’ descriptions of the students’
reading skills;
• students’ attitudes towards reading; and
• students’ and parents’ descriptions of
their experiences of the pedagogical
support and accessibility during differ-
ent time periods.
Results
PEDAGOGICAL SUPPORT
Five students attended local schools dur-
ing their entire compulsory schooling.
Student 4 attended local schools during
the first six years of his or her education.
Due to dissatisfaction with the level of
support provided, however, student 4
moved to a special school for visually
impaired students with learning disabili-
ties in seventh grade. In primary and mid-
dle school, all six students had access to
paraeducators in their classrooms. The re-
sponsibilities of the paraeducators were to
464 Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
adapt materials and provide braille instruc-
tion or individual training to the students.
Five of the paraeducators were qualified as
teachers, and one (who worked with student
4) had no pedagogical education. At senior
level (grades seven to nine) three students
received support from paraeducators with
regular teacher qualifications, one received
support from a special needs teacher (stu-
dent 4, after moving to the special school),
and one (student 3) had a paraeducator with
no teacher training. Student 2 had no para-
educator at senior level. After student 2
gave up braille (the student’s reasoning for
which is described in the Reading and ac-
ademic performance section), support was
gradually lessened and eventually was no
longer provided. In primary and middle
school, all classroom teachers or paraedu-
cators had attended RCV’s basic courses
about teaching methods for visually im-
paired students. At the senior level, fewer
teachers had attended these courses.
Students 1, 4, and 6 were described by
parents and teachers as being in need of
extensive support throughout school. At
the senior level, students 1 and 6 had
reduced curricula. Student 1 was critical
of the support he or she received and
expressed concern about being excluded
from important subjects. The parents,
who were also worried, stated that they
had been more satisfied with the support
in earlier school years. The parents of
students 4 and 6 were disappointed in
some of the teachers’ lack of interest in
their children, and were mostly critical of
the local schools’ ability to support them.
These three families summarized their
children’s school situation as one endless
struggle to receive the right support.
In contrast, students 3 and 5 and their
parents were mostly satisfied with the
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved
 CEU Article
pedagogical support that was provided to
them throughout these school years. They
attributed this satisfaction mainly to the
positive attitude of the school manage-
ment and the teachers, and pointed out the
importance of good communication be-
tween home and school. Their teachers
agreed with this statement, but added that
the individual traits of the students also
influenced the positive outcomes; both of
these students were described as indepen-
dent and cognitively gifted.
Before six years of age, none of the
students had received any formal braille
instruction, but all of them went to pre-
schools where the staff members had at-
tended courses about how to create a
braille-rich environment and stimulate
interaction with letters. When starting
school, they received braille instruction
within the regular classroom setting from
their classroom teachers or paraeducators,
who in all cases but one had attended
braille courses. The paraeducator working
with student 4 during primary school had
no education in braille but was still re-
sponsible for much of the braille instruc-
tion. This student’s teachers in middle
school also lacked competence in braille.
ACCESSIBILITY
Most families were primarily satisfied
with the schools’ ability to make subjects
and activities accessible during the lower
school years. Students 3 and 5 and their
parents described the teachers as being
creative and having a positive attitude
towards finding solutions in all subjects
throughout the compulsory school years.
In contrast, students 1, 2, and 6 and their
parents stated that the schools did not
succeed as well during senior-level stud-
ies as they did in earlier years. Fewer
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
teachers working at the senior level
had attended courses at RCV, and the
knowledge of teaching methods for visu-
ally impaired students was limited in
some cases. Student 2 often had to ask for
adapted materials, since the student’s teach-
ers tended to overlook his or her visual
impairment.
Students 1 and 6 said they sometimes
ended up doing something completely
different from their classmates because
neither the material nor the activity was
properly adapted. Student 1 stated that
one reason behind the decision not to
include design, home economics, and
crafts in the curriculum was the teachers’
failure to make these subjects accessible.
In general, design, physical education, tech-
nology, crafts, mathematics, physics, and
chemistry were identified by several teach-
ers as being especially difficult to make
accessible. The parents of student 4 de-
scribed a fundamental change when the stu-
dent moved to the special school, where the
whole environment was adapted and acces-
sible for visually impaired students. The
student said happily that “this school is for
kids just like me!”
READING AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Parents and teachers were asked whether
they considered it possible to place the
same academic demands on visually im-
paired students and sighted students.
Some stated that the demands definitely
should be the same, provided that the
student had age-appropriate cognitive
skills. Others pointed out that the visually
impaired students took much longer to
perform many tasks, and that they became
fatigued more easily. These limitations
made it difficult to compare students who
465
 CEU Article
are visually impaired with sighted stu-
dents, hence it was sometimes necessary
to adjust academic requirements. Because
of this difficulty, some teachers were in-
secure about how to properly evaluate the
students.
After an assessment of visual and cog-
nitive functions at RCV before the start of
school, it was recommended that student
1 (who had low vision) begin braille
instruction. Decoding skills developed
slowly in this student, according to reading
observations at RCV. In seventh grade, the
student read at 70 wpm, and his or her
reading comprehension skills were assessed
as “good.” Concurrently, student 1 had
learned to read print, and the motivation in
the student for braille instruction dimin-
ished because the student wanted to read
“like everyone else.” After seventh grade,
the student stopped using braille at school.
In ninth grade, the student’s print reading
skills were described by the teacher as be-
ing at grade level in both decoding and
comprehension, but reading was tiresome
for the student due to the student’s very low
visual acuity. On the LS-test (in print),
which was administered in the ninth grade,
the student received scores at mean level
compared to sighted readers. In the inter-
view the student expressed low self-esteem
concerning reading, a resistance towards
braille, and a strong wish to read “nor-
mally.” At home the parents tried to encour-
age braille reading to keep the skills for
future needs, but the student was reluctant.
With much effort and extra support,
student 1 met the expected academic re-
quirements throughout school on at least
an average level, according to parents and
teachers. Eventually, the student was as-
sessed and diagnosed with ADHD. The
student’s mean grade level in both eighth
466 Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
and ninth grades was C. Preferred sub-
jects were social sciences and history.
After being assessed for visual and
cognitive functions by RCV before the
start of school, student 2 (who had low
vision) was recommended to begin braille
instruction. However, this student showed
a strong visual motivation early in life,
and learned to read print while practicing
braille. Not making progress in braille, it
was decided again at the beginning of
third grade that the student should be in-
structed only in print. Reading observa-
tions at RCV showed that the student read
at 80 wpm in third grade and had good
reading comprehension skills when tested
in print. From fourth to seventh grades,
the student did not take part in the read-
ing observations. According to the local
teachers, the student’s reading speed de-
veloped slowly during middle school, and
was clearly below average in ninth grade,
whereas his or her reading comprehen-
sion was at grade level. On the LS-test in
print in the ninth grade, the student re-
ceived scores 1 SD below mean compared
to sighted readers. The student expressed
that it was a relief not be “forced” to read
braille anymore. The parents shared this
opinion and tried to encourage their child
to read more print at home to increase his
or her reading speed, but the student had
other interests. Student 2 met the ex-
pected academic requirements at an aver-
age level throughout compulsory school,
according to parents and teachers. The
student’s mean grade level in both eighth
and ninth grades was D. Preferred sub-
jects were music and sports.
Student 3 (who was blind) was a fluent
braille reader by the end of first grade.
Decoding skills and reading speed for
this student developed at a steady pace,
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved
 CEU Article
according to reading observations at
RCV, culminating in a reading speed of
120 wpm in the seventh grade. The stu-
dent’s reading comprehension was as-
sessed as “good.” The student’s motiva-
tion for braille diminished at the senior
level, according to his or her classroom
teacher, because it was difficult for the
student to keep up with the speed of his or
her classmates. When reading longer texts
in school, the student instead chose audio
books. On the LS-test in ninth grade, the
student performed slightly below mean
compared to sighted readers; reading
comprehension was at grade level. In his
or her spare time, this student enjoyed
both listening to audio books and reading
braille books. However, in the interview
the student said that, in school, braille
books felt too slow and did not match the
student’s “mental pace.”
Student 3 met all expected academic
requirements on an above-average level
throughout compulsory school, according
to parents and teachers. The student’s
mean grade level in 8th grade was B, and
in 9th grade it had improved to A. The
student mostly enjoyed mathematics and
Swedish.
Student 4 (who was blind) progressed
very slowly with reading skills, and read-
ing observations at RCV showed that in
the third grade this student could identify
only two braille letters. The student did
not take part in further reading observa-
tions. Braille instruction continued with-
out progress at the local school, where the
teachers had insufficient knowledge of
braille. When starting in the special
school, the student received training from
a teacher with extensive knowledge of
braille, and in the ninth grade the student
had learned to identify half the alphabet
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
and decode a few short words. However,
the student did not enjoy braille and the
teacher found it difficult to determine
how much effort they should put into
braille practice. The parents confirmed
that the student was reluctant to practice
braille.
Student 4 showed learning difficulties
early and was eventually diagnosed with
intellectual disability. At the senior level,
when studying the curriculum for stu-
dents with learning disabilities, the stu-
dent achieved only the lowest pass level,
according to the teacher. The student en-
joyed music most of all.
Student 5 (who was blind) learned to
read braille fluently before the start of
school, according to his or her parents,
and soon developed a reading speed on a
level with sighted readers. In seventh
grade the student’s reading speed was 155
wpm, with reading comprehension skills
at grade level. On the LS-test in ninth
grade, the student performed 1 to 2 SD
above mean compared to sighted readers.
The student’s reading skills were above
class average in both reading speed and
reading comprehension, according to his
or her teachers. Student 5 loved reading
and expressed great self-confidence con-
cerning reading skills. This student
mostly chose braille books over audio-
books, both at home and in school, in
order to maintain a high reading speed
and because using headphones in the
classroom felt “antisocial.” The parents
encouraged braille reading at home.
Student 5 met all expected academic
requirements on a level above average
throughout school, according to parents
and teachers, and was described as a top
student in the class. The student’s mean
grade level in the eighth grade was B, and
467
 CEU Article
in the ninth grade it had improved to
straight-A level. Preferred subjects were
mathematics, science, and sports.
Student 6 (blind) had reading skills that
developed slowly. In the seventh grade
the student read 50 wpm and reading
comprehension was poor, according to
reading observations at RCV. The local
teacher at the senior level confirmed that
the student was a very weak reader com-
pared to classmates, in both reading speed
and comprehension. The LS-test result in
the ninth grade was 2 SD below mean
compared to sighted readers. The student
preferred audio books; otherwise, it was
impossible to keep up with classmates.
Extra braille training was regularly of-
fered at the local school by a teacher with
no braille education. Student 6’s parents
tried to encourage braille practicing at
home, but found it hard to motivate him
or her to do so.
Student 6 met the expected academic
requirements in first to third grades, but
failed to meet the requirements in some
subjects when the demands increased.
Eventually, the student was assessed and
diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
With additional support, the level of
achievement improved. The student’s
mean grade level in eighth grade was D,
and in ninth grade had improved to C.
This student enjoyed music and singing.
Discussion
All students entered first grade as emerg-
ing braille readers, but then their reading
development took different directions.
Overall, compared to sighted readers
there was no difference in reading com-
prehension, according to teachers’ state-
ments. Differences mainly concerned de-
coding and reading speed. This finding is
468 Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
consistent with earlier research (Pring,
1982, 1984). Furthermore, previous stud-
ies have shown that successful readers
have a more positive attitude toward read-
ing (McKenna, Kear, & Ellsworth, 1995)
and spend more time reading than less
successful readers (Anderson, Wilson, &
Fielding, 1988). This finding was also
true in our current study, therefore, posi-
tive attitudes toward reading may be one
factor that contributed to the reading de-
velopment of the successful students.
All students who attended general ed-
ucation classes obtained at least average
grades. However, the students with addi-
tional disabilities needed a great deal of
extra support to achieve at this level. Two
blind students were especially high
achieving; both started to read early and
achieved at a higher level than many of
their sighted classmates, according to the
teachers. They were described as academ-
ically and socially skilled, and both became
good braille readers. One of them devel-
oped excellent reading skills and preferred
braille in most situations. The other had
average braille skills, and preferred audio-
books in school in order to keep up and
perform optimally in all subjects.
Congenital blindness has a significant
impact on a child’s development and op-
portunities to perceive the environment.
This was first described in the 1960s by
Fraiberg, who also pointed to the necessity
of educated personnel in addressing chil-
dren’s needs in order to reduce the risk of
developmental challenges (Fraiberg, 1968;
Fraiberg, Smith, & Adelson, 1969). The
consequences of a lack of vision for both
cognitive and social-emotional develop-
ment have since been further demon-
strated by other researchers (Preisler,
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved
 CEU Article
1997; Sacks & Wolffe, 2006; Warren,
1984, 1994).
The two high-achieving students were
not born blind; both lost their vision dur-
ing their preschool years. This makes a
great difference when it comes to early
development and managing intellectual,
practical, and social skills later in life.
Children who were born sighted will have
gathered many visual experiences that
help them in understanding the world and
in developing different skills (Webster &
Roe, 1998). Both these students were also
visually impaired with no brain lesions,
which is another important factor. Previ-
ous research has pointed to the impor-
tance of etiology of visual impairment in
terms of developmental outcome (Ek,
2000). Both families also described mainly
positive experiences concerning pedagogi-
cal support and accessibility during the en-
tire school period. All these aspects are, of
course, important when discussing these
students’ positive development and high
level of achievement.
The three students with additional dis-
abilities all struggled through school, and
their parents were in many ways critical
of the support offered. Two had specific
problems with their reading acquisition:
one was an extremely slow reader, and
one only learned to decode a few words.
Braille instruction in the local schools
was clearly deficient for these students.
One student eventually moved to a spe-
cial school, and two had curricula re-
duced. One reason for these academic
changes seemed to be the schools’ failure
to make certain subjects accessible to stu-
dents with visual impairments. This mat-
ter was also discussed by Gray, who
found that subjects such as technology,
design, physical education, and mathe-
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
matics were difficult to make accessible
(2009). In some cases, obstacles related to
accessibility led to teachers discouraging
the visually impaired students from
studying these subjects (Gray, 2009).
Such a situation might occur when
schools try to find a way to solve the
“problem” with accessibility without ad-
dressing the main problem: the need for
more competent teachers.
The two students with low vision both
abandoned braille—in one case, despite
the fact that the student’s visual acuity
was considered “too” low for reading
print for academic purposes. Parents and
teachers interpreted the resistance to
braille as an expression of the students’
desire to be more like their sighted class-
mates and not deviate from what is con-
sidered “normal.” It is important to re-
spect the feelings and wishes of students,
but having limited braille skills might be
a potential problem for them in the future.
The authors consider students with severe
low vision to be vulnerable to peer pres-
sure regarding reading media, and special
attention should be directed toward such
students in this regard.
It is clear that the support offered to the
students varied depending on their own
competence and on the competence of
their teachers and paraeducators, as well
as the attitude of school management re-
garding students with functional disabili-
ties. In some cases, parents stated that
they had little say concerning the distribu-
tion of school resources. The accessibility
of subjects and activities was generally de-
scribed by the students as being better dur-
ing their lower school years. At the senior
level, the academic demands were higher,
and the students were confronted with a
469
 CEU Article
greater number of teachers than before,
not all of whom had attended courses
about teaching methods for visually im-
paired students. Several teachers also re-
ported insecurities concerning how to
properly evaluate the students with visual
impairments, a matter that might be re-
flected in the letter grades the students
received.
LIMITATIONS
This study had certain limitations. Since
the group we studied consisted of only six
students, one must therefore be careful
not to generalize the reported findings.
Another aspect concerns the assessment
of reading skills. One standardized test
(LS) was used, in the ninth grade. In
addition, the yearly reading observations
at RCV, as well as the teachers’ descrip-
tions in interviews, offer some under-
standing of the students’ reading devel-
opment concerning decoding, speed, and
comprehension. However, the texts that
were used during the observations were
not part of a standardized test.
So far as academic performance, the
study includes letter grades from eighth
and ninth grades. Since letter grades were
not given in lower school years at the time
the study was conducted, these were the
only overall measures available. There-
fore, to get an idea of the achievements
students made in earlier years, their par-
ents and teachers were asked to describe
whether the students had met the ex-
pected academic requirements during
those years. An alternative would have
been to collect individual test results from
different subjects, but collection of such
detailed data was constrained by practical
conditions.
470 Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
Conclusion and implications
for practice
The population of visually impaired chil-
dren is small and heterogeneous. A signif-
icant proportion—approximately two-thirds
in Sweden— has additional disabilities
(Blohmé & Tornqvist, 2007). It is necessary
to take this heterogeneity into consideration
when planning how to meet the students’
educational needs. A great deal depends on
the environment to help the students de-
velop their academic skills, including read-
ing skills.
This study indicates that in Sweden the
overall conditions for visually impaired
students in general education classrooms
are not yet satisfactory. Some schools
provide teachers educated in braille and
teaching methods for visually impaired
students, while the staff members in other
schools may have insufficient teacher
training and limited knowledge of visual
impairments. The outcome of the school-
ing for the six students we studied is
strikingly different regarding experiences
of support, accessibility, and possibilities
to achieve to their best potential. The
schools’ attitudes towards students with
functional disabilities and the competence
and creativity of the teachers were aspects
that were described as important. The
teachers’ specific competence in braille
and their ability to support the students in
developing their reading skills is evi-
dently another important factor. Interna-
tional studies show that braille-reading
students seem to do better when literacy
instruction is part of a well-organized plan
and when classroom teachers have the op-
portunity to collaborate closely with teach-
ers of visually impaired students (Wall Em-
erson, Sitar, Erin, Wormsley, & Herlich,
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved
 CEU Article
2009). In our previous study, several
teachers reported that supporting students
in their reading acquisition was a great
challenge because they did not have suf-
ficient braille knowledge (Rönnbäck et
al., 2010). Since good reading skills are
crucial for general academic achieve-
ment, this matter is of course of utmost
importance (Programme for International
Student Assessment [PISA], 2009).
For the majority of the families in this
study, inclusive education was the only
plausible option, even when the support
provided by this educational model had de-
ficiencies. One might speculate whether the
resources made available are sometimes in-
fluenced by the students’ individual traits
and prerequisites. Cognitively gifted stu-
dents with no additional disabilities had,
along with their parents, more positive ex-
periences of support and the schools’ atti-
tudes, while parents of students with learn-
ing disabilities or problem behaviors
described compulsory school as an “endless
struggle” for the right support. It might be
the case that the attitudes are sometimes
more positive towards “easier” students,
who are perceived as less time consuming
than students with more complex needs.
In conclusion, we know a great deal
about the pedagogical needs of visually
impaired students, with or without addi-
tional disabilities. However, in Sweden
the support for visually impaired students
is not regulated by law, courses about
teaching methods for those students are
not mandatory, and the schools’ attitudes
towards functional disabilities clearly
play an important role in the outcome.
Therefore, the support system for these
students is fragile, and we have not yet
reached the point where we can talk about
equal education for all students.
©2014 AFB, All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, November-December 2014
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Visit Hadley.edu

Kim de Verdier, M.S., Ph.D. student, Department

of Special Education, Stockholm University, Box
106 91, Stockholm, Sweden; e-mail: ⬍kim.deverdier@
specped.su.se⬎. Ulla Ek, Ph.D., professor of special
education, Department of Special Education, Stock-
holm University, Stockholm, Sweden; e-mail: ⬍ulla.
ek@specped.su.se⬎. THE HADLEY SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093
hadley.edu | 800.323.4238

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