Glastonbury Girl Scout Troop 840 approached Welles-Turner Library about a need they saw and a plan to fulfill that need. The troop has not only donated large print children's books to Welles-Turner Library, they are seeking your help in growing and maintaining the collection. The information on this page is what they felt people should know about their project.
Our community needs large print books for children and others who have trouble seeing.
Why do we need this?
To help grandparents and young children who love to read but who cannot see very well.
Lots of kids with visual problems avoid reading.
15 out of 100 children have trouble seeing.
This would make our Children’s Department one of the most up-to-date in the State.
What can you do?
Let others know about this need! Work with us!
Leave a donation in the Children’s Department (specify “for large print children’s books”)
Sponsor a book: You can donate a book in the name of someone special.
Why do we need large print children’s books?
To support children with visual impairments and/or learning disabilities that limit their reading levels
To provide an aging population with access to large print children's books, and
To continue to build Welles-Turner as a state-of-the-art public library
Read a book! Buy a book! Read to children and grandchildren! Let them read to you!
Important Facts:
Learning disabilities impact at least 5% of the population, or more than 12 million Americans. Many authorities feel that learning disabilities can be subtle and that this number is actually much higher.
The most widely known learning disability that impacts children's abilities to read is dyslexia. But other more subtle visual impairments (such as amblyopia, strabismus, esotropia, exotropia, hyperphoria, myopia, astigmatism, among others), visual processing, and/or perception disorders are far more widespread. Children with visual perception or processing disabilities, simply stated, have trouble making sense out of what they see. They confuse the letters b, d, p, and q. They have difficulty memorizing even the simplest words, since so much of our ability to memorize is based on sight. They reverse letter sequences (ex. read saw for was). They have difficulty tracking and lose their place when reading. They have trouble finding words within sentences. Some of these children see double at certain distances from their eyes. Their world can be confusing and frustrating.
It is estimated that 15 out of 100 children have special visual needs, and that more often than not, these conditions go undetected. In a recent study through Harvard University, behavioral optometrists learned that there exists a strong correlation between undiscovered visual perception and processing problems and children who are not doing as well in school as they could and/or children with behavioral problems. Similar studies of prison inmates and children in juvenile correctional facilities support these findings. When these conditions go undetected, the results can be serious. And as Smith and Strick sadly note, "Year after year, many of these youngsters are erroneously pegged as slow-witted, insolent, or lazy." (at 5).
While not a cure, large print books would fill a need for students who, seemingly for mysterious reasons, claim to dislike reading or avoid reading. Many of these children are extremely bright and are simply bored by the books at intellectual reading levels lower than their own but above their physical abilities. (Picture books usually have fairly large print.) They do not realize the joy of reading because they are forced to read at a level that is of little interest to them. Having access to large print books would increase the likelihood that these children can develop a love of reading at levels that match their intellect by helping them compensate for their visual limitations.
As the baby boomers get older, demand for all large print books will grow exponentially. Baby boomers are only now beginning to become grandparents. The number of boomers with grandchildren, people who need or would simply have a higher level of comfort reading from large print books, will continue to grow for the next twenty years. Always a significant market force, the interests and needs of this population should be taken seriously.
Hartford County has only one reasonable collection of large print children's books. That collection is in Rocky Hill, and it is small (about 90 books), outdated, and no longer maintained. This service project supports more than Glastonbury; it supports the State!
Large print books are not a cure, but they will help kids like reading more.
Added February 24, 2003. Information provided by Troop 840.