This book addresses the needs of children of all abilities, from those who use nonlinguistic forms of communication such as objects or body movements to those who use linguistic forms such as sign language or writing.
Leading experts address such problems as identification of deafblindness, planning and intervention, development, family support, and education for parents and professionals who work with people who have been deafblind from birth or a very early age.
First published in 2000. Resources and training material about children who are deafblind are all too rare. The principles of contact, communication and learning are fundamental; they apply to us all. The process of putting these same principles into practice with children who are deafblind can be complex, incremental and challenging. This book rewards the reader by identifying what contact, communication and learning can mean for a deafblind child. At the same time it sets out detailed guidance on practice. Throughout, information is given with a rare insight and compassion for children with these very special needs.
"This book expands upon the knowledge base and provides a compendium of intervention strategies to support and enhance the acquisition of social skills and children and youths with visual impairments ... Part 1 ... addresses social skills from a first-person perspective. The second part ... examines how theory seeks to explain social development and influences assessment and practice ... Part 3, ties personal perspectives and theory to actual practice. Finally, Part 4 ... offers numerous examples and models for teaching social skills to students who are blind or visually impaired, including those with additional disabling conditions."--Introduction.
Strategy To See describes interventions and strategies which encourage more consistent and efficient viewing behavior in students with Cortical Visual Impairment. A CVI Skills Inventory and Strategy Worksheet is provided to record observations and strategies for others to follow.
Teaching Deaf Learners: Psychological and Developmental Foundations explores how deaf students (children and adolescents) learn and the conditions that support their reaching their full cognitive potential -- or not. Beginning with an introduction to teaching and learning of both deaf and hearing students, Knoors and Marschark take an ecological approach to deaf education, emphasizing the need to take into account characteristics of learners and of the educational context. Building on the evidence base with respect to developmental and psychological factors in teaching and learning, they describe characteristics of deaf learners which indicate that teaching deaf learners is not, or should not, be the same as teaching hearing learners. In this volume, Knoors and Marschark explore factors that influence the teaching of deaf learners, including their language proficiencies, literacy and numeracy skills, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional factors. These issues are addressed in separate chapters, with a focus on the importance to all of them of communication and language. Separate chapters are devoted to the promise of multimedia enhanced education and the possible influences of contextual aspects of the classroom and the school on learning by deaf students. The book concludes by pointing out the importance of appropriate education of teachers of deaf learners, given the increasing diversity of those students and the contexts in which they are educated. It bridges the gap between research and practice in teaching and outlines ways to improve teacher education.