Miyauchi, H., Aomatsu, T., Seiwa, Y., & Matsuda, E. (2024). Investigating the validity issue of extended time for students with blindness in tests involving complex tables . Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness , 118 (5), 313–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X241286001

Extended time accommodations (1.5x or 2x the original time) and changes in test format (braille and tactile tables) were investigated for students with blindness taking tests that involved complex tables. The effectiveness of these combined accommodations for students with blindness when interpreting tactile versions of complex tables was examined.

Twenty students with blindness who had used braille as their main learning medium for over 7 years and 20 sighted students, aged 16–26 years, participated in four tasks. All participants were enrolled in highly academically selective high schools or universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area of Japan.

Students completed four tasks: one reading braille text and three working with tactile tables. The time needed to complete each task was measured and recorded. The number of students who could finish each task within the standard extended time accommodations (1.5x and 2x the regular time) was calculated. Relationships between braille reading speed and tactile table reading speed were also analyzed to understand if skills in one area transferred to the other.

Although 70% of students with blindness completed the braille reading task within 1.5x time and 100% within 2x time, none could complete the complex table tasks within these time extensions, suggesting current time extension accommodations are inadequate for students interpreting complex tables. No significant correlation was found between braille reading speed and tactile table reading speed, indicating that proficiency in braille reading did not directly translate to proficiency in reading tactile tables.