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Conceptualising a systematic approach in the use of the multisensory environment for children with multi-disabilities and visual impairment: Part one identifying the child’s sense windows
Focus: School Years
Topic: MDVI
Dr Paul Pagliano
Senior Lecturer
School of Education
James Cook University
Townsville
Qld 4811
Australia
(61) 747 815424
For the child with multi-disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI) the relationship between self and the external environment is tenuous. Indeed the child’s sense windows can be so amorphous that environmental engineering is necessary to increase the likelihood that sensory stimulation will be meaningful to the child. The environment therefore assumes a far more essential role in the teaching-learning paradigm.
An engineer is someone who uses scientific knowledge to arrange the environment in useful ways. Environmental engineering in the education of children with MDVI refers to the idea of designing a surrounding that fits the particular sense abilities of a child at a particular time in order to maximize the child’s purposeful or functional engagement with the external world.
These sense needs can be sorted into four types.
1) An environmental modification is any change that is made to the environment. The change is made to make the environment more compatible to the child’s sense abilities. For example improved lighting and reduced glare may help a child with low vision see more detail. Educators of children with MDVI make modifications to help make an activity simpler for the child to perform.
2) An environmental adjustment is any change that is made that improves a particular sense ability. For example we can adjust the focus on a pair of binoculars to more sharply discern an image in the distance.
3) An environmental compensation is any addition that is used to make up for a missing sense ability. For example a deaf child may not be able to hear the school bell so a flashing light could be used to indicate that the bell is ringing.
4) An environmental adaptation is any change that is made to the environment that enables the child to use what skills he or she already has. Here the emphasis is on the child making the change. The classic example is when the child with low vision moves an object closer to the eyes in order to see it more clearly. An adaptation implies that the child now owns the skill. That is, s/he can do it independently.
Even though the above examples relate specifically to vision, environmental engineering can be used with each of the senses. The process therefore can become quite complicated and sophisticated. Consequently it helps to have a space that is set aside specifically for this type of specialized teaching. One space where sense stimulation can be environmentally engineered is the multisensory environment (MSE). The MSE is a dedicated space where stimulation can be controlled to match, engage and foster sense development in the child.
For the nondisabled child the role of the environment can almost be taken for granted because the child is generally independently able to effect the necessary changes, thereby ensuring the learning and development continue to occur in spontaneous and natural ways. However some children have such profound disabilities that they require assistance in order for this learning and development to occur.
The process of matching stimulation with the child with MDVI’s sense ability begins with the teacher and therapist identifying, describing and recording the child’s current sense abilities. When cataloguing the child’s sense abilities it helps to use a functional sense ability checklist. This saves time and enables the teacher and therapist to be much more deliberate in their record keeping. Pagliano (2001) provides six checklists: functional proprioception, functional taste and smell, functional touch, functional hearing, functional vision, functional engagement and functional communication.
The size of the child’s world grows as the child becomes more aware and the checklists have been organized to parallel this development. Therefore the order of completion of these checklists is important because it encourages the educator to be more in tune with the child’s development.
The child senses the world via the transmission of thousands of sensory receptors that are the somatosensory system. These can be divided into two broad classes: proprioceptors and exteroceptors.
Learning about the world begins with the senses that inform the individual about the internal state of the body, namely proprioception. These include the vestibular apparatus, the muscle spindles and the Golgi tendon organs.
The vestibular apparatus are located in the inner ear (semicircular canals, utricles and saccules). They help with equilibrium and balance or response to gravity. The vestibular system enables the individual to keep the head in position and maintain an upright posture. It also helps to maintain a particular orientation with ones surroundings, which is valuable when engaging with the external world. Muscles are bundles of contractile fibres that have the function of producing movement. They provide sensations of position and tension. Muscle spindles maintain a two way communication with the central nervous system by providing and receiving information regarding changes in muscle length and muscle force. The Golgi tendon organs respond to three types of changes in muscle force: a passive change when the muscle is pulled, and two active changes, isometric and isotonic contractions.
Receptors that inform the child about the external environment are called exteroceptors. The child starts to become aware of the near external world through the cutaneous senses, the tactual sense, the olfactory sense and the gustatory sense. The cutaneous senses are the senses of the skin. These include the senses of pain, pressure and temperature. The tactual senses are located in the skin and hair and relate to touch. The olfactory sense is located in the nose and relates to smell. It provides us with information about substances in gaseous form. The gustatory sense refers to the taste buds in the mouth. The sense of taste is sometimes called the gatekeeper to the body because it provides us with information about substances in solutions we eat and drink.
Even the senses that provide the child with opportunities to access the more distant world begin as near sense experiences. It is not until the near visual and auditory skills have been established that the child begins to explore further afield. Cognition is the final common pathway that integrates somasensory stimulation.
Pagliano, P. (2001). Using a multisensory environment: a practical guide for teachers. London: David Fulton.
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