CHILDHOOD LITERACY
VEJAS & PETRAS VASILIAUSKAS Meet Vejas and his little brother Petras. Vejas is 15, has already surfed the waves of Hawaii, and plans to become a writer someday. Petras is 11, enjoys tending to his family’s garden and looks forward to becoming a
We motivate school-age braille readers
RAISING THE BAR!
to excel through The Braille Challenge®, a nationwide literacy contest designed
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doctor like his father. It goes without saying then, that they’re both excellent students and voracious readers. Yet, for them, reading involves their trained fingers, flying across
to celebrate their talents and abilities,
the page in a dizzying blur of movement.
as well the production and distribution of the Braille Special Collection, several
Vejas and Petras have been blind since birth
book series designed to foster a love of
and rely on braille, to not only compete,
reading in children.
but excel academically. “Life is mainstream, and we have to be, too,” said Vejas. His parents realized early on that there would be challenges along the way, but failure wasn’t 2007
2012
Total Braille Special Collection Books & Kits Distributed
an option. “When you’re blind you have to be even better than the competition,” their father Eric said. Braille Institute has been there to encourage the boys’ growth from their early days in our Child Development program, to their standout performances as competitors in The Braille Challenge® literacy competition, and their avid consumption of free reading material through our Special Collection
THE NEED
book series. It’s all about preparation for a
Studies show that blind and visually impaired youth who are braille literate are nearly three times more likely to find employment than those who don’t read and write braille. (Ranalli, “A Boost for Braille,” The Boston Globe, 2008)
successful life in school and beyond, and the Vasiliauskas brothers are poised to triumph.