Buddybooks for braille readers (BB4B)

The National Eye Institute awarded Objective ED, Inc. $306,872 on July 15, 2026, under the Vision Research program (CFDA 93.867) to develop and test BuddyBooks for Braille Readers (BB4B), an AI-powered braille literacy system designed to extend independent reading practice for braille learners and readers in grades 4 through 12.

BB4B integrates refreshable braille displays with speech recognition to analyze oral reading and deliver targeted feedback during co-reading sessions. The system provides access to over one million books to build fluency and comprehension, and supplies teachers of students with visual impairments with a dashboard to monitor learner progress and tailor instruction based on AI-driven reading insights. The Phase I project assesses feasibility and effectiveness, addressing two core research questions: the extent to which BB4B improves reading fluency, word recognition, and comprehension for braille learners, and how engaging and usable the system is for both learners and teachers.

BB4B builds on the BuddyBooks platform, an NSF-funded AI-assisted reading system that demonstrated a 24 percent fluency improvement in students with dyslexia and reading difficulties, and on prior Microsoft AI for Access–funded work on braille artificial intelligence tutoring.

Period of performance runs from July 15, 2026, through April 30, 2027. Work is performed in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Abstract

BB4B - buddybooks for braille significance: braille literacy is critical for braille learners and readers (BLR) students' educational success, employment opportunities, and independence. However, blrs (grades 4-12) face two key challenges: (1) they need more practice reading outside of limited sessions with their specialized teachers of students with visual impairments (tsvis), and (2) they receive insufficient instructional time due to a national shortage of over 5,000 tsvis. This lack of consistent, independent practice significantly impacts literacy development, leading to lower academic outcomes. Innovation: buddybooks for braille (BB4B) is an AI-powered braille literacy system that extends the successful buddybooks model to blrs. IT enables AI-assisted CO-reading by integrating refreshable braille displays with speech recognition to analyze BLR oral reading and provide targeted feedback, IT supports independent literacy practice with structured, interactive braille reading outside of tsvi sessions, IT provides access to over 1 million books, ensuring blrs have engaging, high-interest content to build fluency and comprehension, and IT empowers tsvis with an accessible teacher dashboard to monitor BLR progress and tailor instruction based on AI-driven reading insights. Research questions: phase i project assesses the feasibility and effectiveness of BB4B for improving braille literacy. The questions are: (1) to what extent does BB4B improve reading fluency, word recognition, and comprehension for blrs? (2) how engaging and usable do tsvis and blrs find BB4B for braille reading practice? Prior work: BB4B builds on the success of two prior research projects: (1) buddybooks, an NSF-funded AI-assisted reading platform used by thousands of struggling readers, which demonstrated a 24% fluency improvement in students with dyslexia and reading difficulties and (2) braille AI tutor, funded by microsoft AI for accessibility, which successfully used AI-driven speech recognition to support braille literacy development through interactive storytelling. Buddybooks has met the criteria for the dept. Of education's essa tier 3 and tier 4 standards of efficacy. Specific aims: using an expert team of tsvis and braille literacy education researchers to advise our software team, we will (1) define the specifications and create the BB4B prototype, integrating AI-powered speech recognition with refreshable braille displays to support independent CO-reading, (2) conduct usability testing with tsvis and blrs to ensure accessibility, effectiveness, and ease of integration into literacy instruction while iteratively improving the prototype and the training guide and (3) evaluate feasibility and impact through a pilot study with 45 blrs, using a standardized literacy assessment, measuring improvements in fluency, phonological awareness, and comprehension over 12 weeks.