Susan Yarbrough, Doctoral Student, Florida State University, sey09c@my.fsu.edu
Wormsley, D. P. (2016). I-M-ABLE: Individualized meaning-centered approach to braille literacy education.
New York, NY: AFB Press.
Diane Wormsley's new book, I-M-ABLE: Individual Meaning-Centered Approach to Braille Literacy,
provides teachers with an additional perspective on teaching braille to children with visual impairments. The
core content of the book is only 122 pages but provides a clear and insightful perspective for teaching children
with visual impairments for whom learning to read has proven a challenge. Wormsley herself outlines the
target group as children who are "candidates for braille reading but who have not made progress in learning
to read, or whom teachers feel will have difficulty making progress because they have additional, mild to
moderate cognitive impairments" (p. 2).
The fundamental difference of the I-M-ABLE approach is the inversion of the traditional instructional
process in literacy. I-M-ABLE is a whole-to-part approach to literacy instruction that first focuses on the
meanings of motivating words and then later moves to letter knowledge and decoding. Though this differs
from more traditional, part-to-whole approaches that first focus on letters and phonics and then progress to
the comprehension of words, the I-M-ABLE, whole-to-part focus, may prove to be key to the literacy
development of some students. This inversion in approach is supported by the guiding principles of
motivation, engagement, individualization, and success that are reflected throughout each part of the book.
Wormsley created a step-by-step manual to guide teachers through her approach. She first provides
a rationale for assessment and several sample assessments, many of which are completed as examples
throughout the text. Blank assessment forms are also included in the back of the book, ready for copying and
assessing. Corresponding data collection forms and a suggested lesson outline are also included in the
VIDBE-Q
Volume 62 Issue 1
Book review: I-M-ABLE: Individualized meaning-
centered approach to braille literacy education
9
