
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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The staff of Research and Development Institute wishes to express its
appreciation to Erika Musser for her unceasing advocacy on behalf of blind
persons everywhere in the promotion of braille literacy.  Without her tireless
efforts, The Braille Tutor would not exist.

Eight individuals acted as field testers for the early version of The Braille
Tutor.  Their excellent comments and suggestions were extremely helpful in the
development of the final version.  These persons are:

Patty Koenig, Director, Rehabilitation Program, Northern Illinois University
Sue Dalton, Research and Development Institute
Diane Jones, mother of a blind child
Geraldine Blackwell, Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services
George Vassos, Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services
Kristi Kite, student, Northern Illinois University
Robert Chada, student, Northern Illinois University

Kim Challand made contributions to the development of the content of 
several lessons.  For her efforts, the staff is appreciative.

The authors wish to recognize the Library of Congress' 1984 Instruction Manual 
for Braille Transcribing (with 1991 addendum) as an important resource for braille 
teachers.  While The Computerized Braille Tutor uses a somewhat different sequence 
of lessons, different examples and exercises, and self-tests, the authors refer 
program users to the Instruction Manual as a resource and reference for additional 
rules and examples.

Dr. Audrey McCrimon, the director of the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation
Services supported our efforts enthusiastically.  Chief among the staff of that
agency who were most helpful in our efforts were Glen Crawford, director of the
Bureau of Blind Services, and Carol Gortat, rehabilitation services advisor.

Lastly, Senator Paul Simon supported the funding of the braille literacy
initiative within the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S.
Department of Education.  Without his efforts the funding for this project and
its sister projects would not have been forthcoming.
