Jessica Barr

From Correspondent Kyoko Altman

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Thirteen-year-old Jessica Barr came from Rockland, Massachusetts, to Washington with a mission -- win the national spelling bee, despite the obstacles that being blind puts in her way.

Chief among them is the fact that Merriam Webster -- the maker of the dictionary every contestant relies on as a vital study aid -- doesn't offer a version in Braille.

So Jessica instead studied with tapes that her mother and friends created -- 100 hours worth of recordings. She worked extra hard, a total of eight hours every day, both before and after a full day in public school.

"I can do a lot of things that people might not think a blind person can do, like skiing," she said. She also roller-skates, rides horses and is an active member of the Girl Scouts.

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"I've always just thought that she's a child before she's blind," said her mother, Marilynn Barr. "She has to grow up. She has to have every opportunity that there is to any other child. And the blindness is secondary."

At the spelling bee this week, Jessica faced stiff competition from 248 other top spellers, who came from all across the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean, equally determined to win.

Jessica's mom Marilynn

Jessica wasn't nervous until she was faced with the devilish word "diablerie," which means lore about devils. She spelled it d-e-o-b-l-e-r-y, and she was through.

"It was just a word that I'd never heard before," she said afterward, swallowing back tears. "It was disappointing, but I wasn't angry or anything."

Her mother, however, saw the larger picture.

"For her to come as far as she has," Marilynn Barr said, "has been a very large step, not only for herself but for all blind people."

With her will to succeed unshaken, Jessica vows to come back to Washington next year for another try at the spelling title.