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Enhancing Cognitive Skills in Blind Learners
Roman Gouzman & Alex Kozulin
The International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential
Jerusalem, Israel
Introduction
By its very nature blindness modifies the ways in which blind learners receive, evaluate and respond to information. The major channel of information for a blind learner is auditory, followed by tactile and kinesthetic. In this paper we will examine the cognitive aspects of the blind learners' experience with two-dimensional materials accessible for tactile examination.
The prevailing educational approach places major emphasis on the integration of the blind learners into the regular classroom on the basis of the auditory channel of learning supported by learning materials in Braille. As a rule students do not have much experience with tactile materials beyond the Braille pages. Until recently the quality of these materials embossed on plastic sheets was not high. The current technology of tactile imaging on micro-capsule paper allows the blind learner to gain access to highly accurate graphic images including pictures, diagrams, plans, maps, etc. The mastery of these images is associated with several cognitive problems faced by the blind learner.
The first of them is related to the difference between the simultaneous character of visual perception and the successive character of tactile perception. The second problem stems from the fact that the process of concept formation in blind learners is dominated by two extremes: extremely abstract verbal notions that have little support in the learners' experience, and extremely concrete tactile images of every-day life objects that possess little potential for generalization. As a result, the middle ground, i.e. everyday concepts that possess a certain degree of generality are under-represented in the blind learners' cognitive repertoire. The third cognitive problem is directly related to the predominant methods of education for the blind that almost completely exclude two-dimensional schematic representations of objects and processes such as diagrams, charts, plans and maps. As a result many of the cognitive tools used by regular students remain underdeveloped in the blind learners.
Cognitive Functions
The cognitive problems facing the blind learners can be described more specifically by using the nomenclature of deficient cognitive functions suggested by Feuerstein et al (1979). Following the information processing model the deficient cognitive functions are considered at the Input, Elaboration, and Output phases of the mental act.
Input
At the Input phase one of the most prominent functions observed in the blind learners is the narrowness of their perceptual field. The linear successive method of tactile exploration is confined to one specific line or element at a time. The whole tactile picture thus remains beyond the spontaneous grasp of the learner. As a result, while exploring and reproducing complex graphic material, like the Rey Osterreith Figure (Fig 1), blind learners tend to repeat the same line twice because it "reappears" in two separate exploratory movements.
Another of the Input phase functions is the blurred and sweeping perception especially concerning size, directionality, and proportions of the two-dimensional tactile images. For example, our students could briefly explore two circles of a very different size and declare that "they are identical". Similarly, some of them would pronounce identical two L-shaped figures one of which is a mirror image of the other. The issue of proportion between different parts of the whole, e.g. human body, also poses serious problem for the blind learners. They often have a very imprecise impression of the proportion between the parts in the objects beyond their daily experience. In this respect it seems significant that many of our students did not know their own height and the relationship between their height and that of surrounding objects.
Yet another cognitive function at the Input phase is that of spontaneous exploratory behavior. The major difficulty in carrying out a spontaneous exploration of tactile material stems from the lack of proper methods of exploration. Often the only experience that students have with two-dimensional tactile materials is that of reading Braille pages, as a result their spontaneous exploration of a page with tactile images repeats the technique of scanning the horizontal Braille lines using one finger. Such a method is absolutely inadequate for the exploration of tactile images, producing poor results and impairing spontaneous exploration as a whole. Sometimes this reductive method of exploration is applied to the three-dimensional objects as well. One of our students who was asked to explore a sculpture approached this task by moving one finger along the sculpture's surface.
Elaboration
Apparently the lack of appropriate experience and technique leads to the underdevelopment of functions such as a spontaneous comparative behavior directed at tactile images. We observed spontaneous comparison only with such well-trained objects as pages of the Braille text. However, when confronted with new tactile images our students initially failed to produce comparative activity necessary for appropriate exploration of these images.
Another problematic function is that of integration of several sources of information. It should be mentioned here that such integration poses problem for all students not only those with special needs. However, the severity of the problem is, of course, greater in blind learners who initially lack integration techniques. For example, when asked to find a tactile image by form, size and location parameters, our students easily identified the form, with a certain amount of difficulty they added the size parameter, but the parameter of location was often neglected.
In general, cognitive functioning at the Elaboration phase suffered from the episodic grasp of reality. Separate experiences, tactile images, and verbal concepts often remained disconnected in our students' minds.
Output
In the absence of the well-integrated mental picture our students' responses were often characterized by a certain egocentrism. For example, when working with the issue of direction our students could not resist seeing their own position as a privileged one. For example, when, upon completing a task on the sheet of micro-capsule paper, the students were asked to exchange sheets with their peers, they rarely took into account the peers' position. As a result the sheets were incorrectly oriented when exchanged and the students were unable to understand the tactile images that suddenly appeared as completely different.
Without special training our students also demonstrated considerable difficulty in performing the perceptual transport necessary to solve certain tactile tasks. For example, the two-dimensional orientation in space tasks that include position, context, and varying instructions require (see Fig 2a&b in Gouzman's chapter) transporting the image representing position into the center of the field, then consulting the table with instructions and then tracing the direction from the central point to one of the objects. All these perceptual transport activities had to be established in our students because they failed to emerge spontaneously.
Instrumental Enrichment for Blind Learners
Instrumental Enrichment (IE) is a cognitive education program developed by Feuerstein et al (1980) (See also Feuerstein's chapter in this issue). IE materials are organized into instruments aimed at such specific cognitive domains as analytic perception, orientation in space and time, comparative behavior, classification and more. The program has been successfully used as a tool for the enhancement of learning potential in learning disabled, educationally deprived and underachieving students. For many years the IE program remained inaccessible to blind learners because of the pictorial nature of IE tasks. Recently created tactile version of IE materials printed on micro-capsule paper helped to overcome this limitation. (See Gouzman's chapter inthis issue).
The use of the IE program with blind learners allowed us to develop in them the following cognitive abilities:
1) Symbolic and schematic representations of objects and processes that previously existed only as abstract verbal labels;
2) Strategies of tactile exploratory activity that lead to the formation of a mental image of a structured and differentiated space;
3) Integration of verbal labels and schematic images leading to the ability to use mental models in problem solving;
4) Development of quasi-simultaneous images of situations that were previously only represented successively.
The blind learners' new abilities can be described using the above mentioned nomenclature of cognitive functions at Input, Elaboration, and Output phases of the mental act.
Development of Input functions
IE program, particularly the Organization of Dots instrument allowed us to develop in blind learners special methods of accurate perception and sustained attention using the tactile modality. Our students learned, for example, how to use fingers of both hands for scanning, parallel exploration of two figures, measurement of segments and angles, fixation of positions, and other tactile operations. As a result, if previously the task of distinguishing between a two-dimensional image of a square and a rectangle was very difficult for them, at the post-IE stage this perceptual operation became almost routine.
The Orientation in Space instrument helped to develop non-egocentric special representations. If previously the factor of orientation or directionality of two-dimensional images was mostly ignored by our students, at the post-IE stage they confidently included this parameter in their descriptions of the tactile images. Through group activities (e.g. a game - "in which hand is there a coin") it became possible to ascertain that the principles of spatial perception became transferred from the domain of tactile perception to that of the auditory one.
Spontaneous exploratory behavior improved significantly with the help of the IE instrument of Comparisons. Using two hands in a parallel examination of two different tactile images students learned strategies of exploration. It is significant that these strategies were spontaneously applied by our students to new unfamiliar objects such as a Braille page that contained some schematic images.
Development of Elaboration functions
One of the major gains at the Elaboration phase was the enhancement of spontaneous comparative behavior. Using some preparatory tasks, as well as Organization of Dots and Comparisons we were able to develop in our students the ability to properly compare two sets of tactile data. An important step in this direction was made when students learned to distinguish between the lines constituting a frame of the micro-capsule page and the content images. Then students learned to explore, compare and name the totality of images on the page.
The naming progressed from the inarticulate stage of "there is a line here" to "there is a straight line that starts in the lower left corner of the page and goes diagonally to the upper left corner".
The technique of the parallel exploration of two images or two pages allowed our students to progress from the stage when they expected to receive instructions or a question, to the stage when they were able to formulate the possible task or a question themselves.
Orientation in Space proved to be effective in helping our students develop the function of integration of several sources of information. This was achieved by introducing both a general cognitive strategy and specific tactile techniques, such as fixing and preserving the position at the center of the page.
Once the students became familiar with the general principles of work with two-dimensional tactile images, it became possible to develop in them the function of planning. Through the work with the Comparisons instrument our students learned how to plan copying a given geometric figure. For example, in order to copy an isosceles triangle the student should first determine the number of angles and sides, the orientation of a base relative to a page frame, the position of the top relative to a base, etc. Only after these planning steps are taken and a mental image of a copy is constructed may the student start actual copying on braillon paper (Fig 2).
An episodic grasp of reality that was so characteristic of the students' pre-IE performance was remediated on the basis of the above mentioned representational, integrative, and planning techniques. If, for example, at the pre-IE stage our students reproduced the Rey-Osterreith figure in a fragmentary and episodic way, after IE training the reproduction acquired a quality of well organized, planned and integrated whole (Fig 3).
Special techniques for integration of separate tactile experiences were developed with the help of Analytic Perception. The Analytic Perception tasks enhanced our students' ability to work with circumscribed surfaces rather than individual lines. With this new technique lines appeared as borders of certain figures and not as isolated elements
Development of Output functions
One of the major advances in the functions related to the Output phase was the reduction of egocentric responses. This was achieved both through teaching the general strategies of taking the addressee into account, e.g. while handing a sheet of micro-capsule paper or a magnetic board to a partner, and through special IE instruments such as Instructions. The tasks of Instructions taught students how to convey to a partner all the necessary information. Thus students who started with highly egocentric descriptions like "there is a line here" mastered the skills of evaluating all the information that has to be conveyed to a partner so that he or she can identify the target image.
The quality of perceptual transfer was improved primarily with the help of Analytic Perception. The students became capable of abstracting the design that should be transferred from its initial context and finding its proper place in a new context.
Conclusion
On the basis of the above experiences some conclusions can be drawn regarding the cognitive advancement of blind learners:
1) Introduction of schematic images of objects and processes helped to link in the students' mind verbal concepts with schematic perceptual images.
2) On the basis of this integrative schema the teacher became capable of conducting a functional analysis of different objects.
3) Schematic images open a way to using modeling in all content subjects from math and science to English.
4) Modeling promoted the development of system of concepts that can then be applied "back" to perceptual images of objects and their representations (e.g. city maps).
5) Students' learning motivation improved because they obtained a sharper image of things that was a step toward such perception of objects that can be shared with sighted peers.
Acknowledgments
The Braille version of IE tools has been developed with the help of generous support provided by the EMOUNA Foundation and Arison Foundation.
a.k./educator-GouzKoz1.doc/26.09.99
Enhancing Cognitive Skills in Blind Learners
by
Roman Gouzman & Alex Kozulin
ICELP, Jerusalem
Paper presented at the Annual Conference
of the British Psychological Association
Educational Section
Exeter, UK - September, 1998