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Pablo Martín Andrade was born in Madrid in 1959 and is a graduate in Philosophy and Education Sciences (Pedagogy).
Since January 1983, he has held the post of support teacher for the integration of blind and visually impaired pupils as described under the terms of the Agreement signed between the Ministry of Education and Science, the Spanish National Organization for the Blind (ONCE) and the National Institute for Social Services (INSerSo).
Between 1992 and 1995, he performed professional functions within the Early Attention Service which also comes under the terms of the above Agreement.
He is currently Coordinator of the Special Team for Educational Attention for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Madrid. This Team gives specialist assistance in the area of Infant Education, including Early Attention, Compulsory Primary and Secondary Education, Higher Secondary Education, University and Adult Education.
He has attended different courses, participated in numerous Conferences and Seminars, and has attended Congresses organized by several public and private Institutions.
Between 1987 and 1992, and for the Ministry of Education, he participated with various papers at the courses organized by the State Office for Pedagogical Renovation. These papers were addressed to school teachers, advisers on special education from permanent teacher training centres and programmes of cooperation with Latin American countries, and covered aspects related to school integration and visual impairment.
He was a speaker at the "Course on Early Attention for the Visually Impaired" (1993) organized by INSerSo, which was given for professionals working with this Body (psychologists, specialists in stimulation and psychomotrists).
He participated in the "Master's Degree in Early Attention" during the academic year 1994/95 at the Complutense University of Madrid (the only university offering this qualification).
His most important contribution for the ONCE was the presentation of a communication and a paper at the "1st National Congress on the Provision of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired", which was held in November 1994.
Within the context of the cooperation agreement between the ONCE and some university teacher training schools, he has also delivered papers for the "La Salle" and "Don Bosco" University Schools at their joint conference on "The education and training of the blind and visually impaired" during the academic year 1995/96.
He has been asked to draw
up the chapter on "Early Attention" for the Educational Psychology Manual
currently being prepared by the ONCE. ICEVI - 10th WORLD CONFERENCE
To begin with, Early Attention programmes were directed at children from high-risk environments, children who were subjected to the negative influence of their environment simply because they were born into families belonging to deprived sectors of the population. They were also directed at those with probable biological risk factors (premature and underweight babies, etc.) or those with an established handicap (cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, blindness, etc.).
Nowadays, and within the context of the established definitions "impairment", "disability" and "handicap", high social risk children - who undoubtedly stand the chance of acquiring some disability - are often included in primary prevention programmes within a general policy of childhood protection. Early Attention is considered as secondary prevention, i.e. it is initiated once the impairment is known to exist, in order to prevent a disability, reduce its effects and/or avoid additional disabilities. Also included here are those children with a high biological risk factor (premature and underweight babies, etc.).
The placing of the principal emphasis on early intervention through treatment aimed exclusively at the child turned this basically into an organized programme of enrichment, designed to provide suitable activities for children at risk or handicapped children whose development could be adversely affected by different causes. For this reason, most of the programmes were aimed at teaching the child new skills which, in the early months, focused mainly on sensory motor training.
However, the appearance of new theories supporting the practical application of early attention programmes brings to light other aspects such as: the family make-up, patterns of intervention, the design of the physical environment of the home, aspects relating to the health of the child, etc. Treatment cannot, therefore, be directedly solely at the child, and the action taken should include the child, the family and the community.
For this reason, the classic
rehabilitation model is abandoned in favour of a psychopedagogical one,
in which the child is treated as a comprehensive unit with both difficulties
and potential, always interacting with his environment. Treatment will
be multidisciplinary and the work done by the parents will play an important
role, as regards the level of guidance and the support they are given to
enable them to achieve a better interaction with their child. Included
in this context will be support for the child's integration into school
at the most appropriate moment.
The movement has been away
from a teaching method based on imitation and where specific material must
be used together with certain reinforcements, usually in a restricted environment
(laboratory or classroom). Now we are looking at the context in which the
child develops - except in the case of environmental deficiences - and
find that this provides sufficient resources to facilitate the learning
process. The activities are, therefore, functional and involve the use
of everyday objects, which obviously includes the natural consequences
of actions performed by the child. This approach falls within the so-called
"ecological model".
This "ecological model" is based on several theories and is summarized by I. Candel (1993) as follows:
- The transactional model stated by Sameroff and Chandler (1975): the actions directed towards the medium and the reactions of that medium to them, which in turn gives rise to a fresh action, and so on, are the actions which favour development. Within this context, the interaction between parents and their child is especially important and focuses on the continuous, dynamic exchange which is present in this relationship.
- The theory of ecological systems postulated by Bronfenbrenner (1979): ecological frameworks and social units, as well as individuals and the situations which arise between and within them, do not function in an isolated fashion, but rather each one has an influence upon the other, both directly and indirectly, in such a way that any changes occurring in a unit or sub-unit affect and influence the members of other units (Nunset and Trivestte (1988).
- The theory of structural, cognitive modifiability stated by Feuerstein and others (1980): changes of a structural nature which can modify the course of cognitive development can be achieved by means of systematic intervention. The stimuli will, however, always be introduced gradually and suit the degree of maturity of the child. It will always be borne in mind that the same result can be achieved by means of other activities, and this involves discovering those that most capture the attention of the child and most fit in with his needs.
The theories examined so far point to the complexity of establishing a programme by virtue of the different approaches involved, and the added difficulty that in the majority of cases, it is not possible to obtain results through experimental treatment.
The principal aims of an early attention programme can be summarized as follows:
1. To maximize the progress of the child in order to achieve his independence in the various areas of development.
2. To keep the child within the context of the family, providing the parents and the family as a whole with assistance (information and support).
3. To use intervention strategies which are ecologically relevant and avoid artificial formulae.
Generally speaking, the perspectives for development and the potential problems that children with documented handicaps - such as blindness - and their families have to face, offer a valuable framework within which to direct the development of specific intervention strategies and programmes.
On a more concrete level, the specific Early Attention services for the blind in Spain can be defined within a mixed educational-therapeutic framework. The difficulties which blindness imposes on the child in the early years as regards his knowledge of the outside world, together with the fact that he recognizes himself to be different from others around him, makes it essential to take particular care to avoid the child becoming locked in a world of his own. In extreme cases, such a reaction only serves to develop personality fragmentation or a characteristic psychosis, which is relatively frequent in this group of subjects.
The Resource Centres of the ONCE have specialist teams, although these may have special agreements with other Bodies. They are made up of a variety of specialists, and their function is to give personal attention to the child, his family and, when the time comes, the school. Because these teams are highly specialized, they also perform research, teaching functions, provide information and, in particular, guidance to other professionals who have blind or visually impaired children under their care, either at Stimulation Centres (in the case of children with multiple disabilities), or through cooperation with other special teams responsible for particularly difficult cases within the scope of the Educational Resource Centres.
Madrid, June 1996
Pablo Martín Andrade