title: Braille use among Norwegian children from 1967 to 2007: trends in the underlying causes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to estimate the occurrence, diagnoses and time trends among Norwegian children that have received education in braille from 1967 to 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a retrospective population-based study design. The health care system is free for all inhabitants in Norway. We included all children that had received braille education the last four decades. From each student's record, we abstracted year born, country of birth, gender, year diagnosed, diagnosis, classification of visual impairment and type of reading media.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 287 children (137 girls and 150 boys) that had received braille education over the last 40 years. Of these, 262 (91.3%) children were born in Norway, 145 (53.7%) were diagnosed within the first year of life and 59 (20.6%) from age of one to five. The most frequent diagnoses were Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), Juvenile Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (JNCL), Lebers Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Among the children, 63% (N = 170) used braille only, 9% (N = 25) braille and print, but priority braille, and 27% (N = 73) braille and print, priority print. The number of children with ROP using braille had a peak in 1977, then the number declined. The number diagnosed with LCA increased from 1987 to 1992. The number of braille users among children diagnosed with JNCL tended to increase substantially after 1992.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Braille education seemed to be dependent of trends in diagnoses as well as trends in recommendations from professional educators.
authors.affiliation: Tambartun National Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired, Melhus, Norway. Augestad@svt.ntnu.no
authors.forename: Liv Berit
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Augestad
authors.forename: Oliv
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Klingenberg
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fosse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D060329:Education of Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D057130:Leber Congenital Amaurosis / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D009472:Neuronal Ceroid-Lipofuscinoses / Q000150:complications; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011932:Reading; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000150:complications; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000150:complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012682:Sensory Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult