As middle school looms this fall, 11-year-old Ciara Peterson has a few concerns.Β
First of all, she hears her new school, Rincon Vista Middle School, only has a field. What's a playground-loving girl supposed to do with her time? Talk? She doesn't like talking that much.Β
She also worries about leaving familiar Senita Valley Elementary School to navigate a larger school with only Braille classroom numbers as a guide.Β
Good thing the soon-to-be sixth-grader reads (and writes) Braille like a pro.Β
In June, Ciara competed in the Braille Institute's 17th annual Braille Challenge for students who are blind or visually impaired. She placed second in her age group. This was the third time she made it to the national competition. A few years ago, she came in first for her age.Β
More than 1,100 first- through 12th-graders competed in regional contests around the U.S. and Canada earlier this year. The 10 best students in each of the five age brackets then battled for victory in the Braille Challenge Finals at the University of Southern California campus earlier this summer.Β
The academic rigor of the challenge is meant to encourage success in school and ultimately in the workforce, saysΒ Marie Saldivar, the national programs coordinator at Braille Institute.
The competition gauges proficiency in reading and writing Braille through a variety of tests that include proofreading, understanding charts and graphs, transcribing audio and demonstrating reading comprehension, Ciara says, describing the contest.Β
The competitors from across the U.S. and Canada sit together at the Braille Challenge Finals in June.Β
Her mom Kiana Peterson adds that many visually impaired people can't read Braille "because there are so many aides to help that are automated ... If any of them have vision at all, they trust in the 10 or 20 percent of vision they do have."Β
Ciara cuts in.Β
"I can't trust in any because I have zero vision," she says, laughing. "But I love reading. I apparently get this dazed reading look on my face when I'm reading, and it takes me into the world where that character is, and I can imagine it in my mind and be in their world for a few seconds."Β
Kiana says reading really clicked for her daughter in first grade with the help of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB), which works with public schools to help blind and visually impaired students.Β
Reading Braille "gives her equal access to print," says Pia Benson, the ASDB director of the Southeast Regional Cooperative. "If she were to hear everything auditorily, she would not be literate. She would be illiterate, and we don't want that for any of our kids."
Teachers from ASDB work with students like Ciara on reading and writing Braille and how to use technology to do work in class. They work to get assignments from public school teachers ahead of time so that they can be ready for students when needed in class.Β
"It's this idea that there is nothing that a sighted child can do that she can't do," Benson says.Β
Ciara's parents opted for public school so their daughter would be surrounded by her peers. Β
"Because in our minds, as parents, this world is not going to do her any favors, and after doing a lot of research, we found that when you send them to a specialty environment and then they're subject to real-world situations, there's a lot of anxiety..." Kiana says. "I didn't want her to have to experience that. There was nothing else going on except that she's visually impaired."Β
For the most part, Ciara says she likes public school, though she has experienced some bullying.Β
"But I don't even care about that," she says. "And I actually have a few friends who are really nice."Β
Ciara and Kiana Peterson at the Braille Challenge Finals. Ciara doesn't like taking photos because she never gets to see them.Β
Plus, besides being a national champion, this 11-year-old has a lot of other things going for her. Here are 11 other things we chatted about when we met last week.Β
1. She wants to be a famous singer or actress someday.Β
2. She sang "How Far I'll Go" from Disney's "Moana" at a school talent show in May and believes you can watch "Moana" 10 times without getting bored.Β
3. She auditioned for America's Got Talent in Phoenix but didn't get a callback. She says it was scary.Β
4. She loves to collect books and when her bookshelf fills up, she has to get creative with how she stores her treasures.Β
5. The books in the "Warriors" series by Erin Hunter are some of her favorites. Especially since she's a cat lover and those books are all about cats.Β
6. She gets "Time for Kids" and loves reading "National Geographic."
7. She also played the witch in her school's production of "Into the Woods."Β
8. She has an older sister and two cats.Β
9. Summer is for swimming.Β
10. She writes, including a long story she just finished titled the "Peppermint Star."Β
11. She doesn't like special treatment. "That's one thing I really don't like," she says. "When people try to help me a little bit too much, it's hard to explain in a way that they understand but that won't hurt their feelings."
