Texas School for the Blind & Visually
Impaired Outreach Programs
www.tsbvi.edu
512-454-8631
Superintendent William Daugherty
Outreach Director Cyral Miller
Texas Focus: Learning From Near to Far
Graduation Day: How does instruction change
as learners move up the cognitive ladder?
Time: 8:30-10:00 AM
Date: June 11, 2010
Presented by
Millie Smith, Consultant for Students with Visual
and Multiple Impairments, Farmersville, TX
Developed for
Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Outreach Programs
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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Graduation Day
How does instruction change as learners move up the
cognitive ladder?
Presented by
Millie Smith
Consultant for Students with Visual and Multiple Impairments
COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE LEVELS
Traditional-predictive
 Gifted
 Average
 Significantly sub-average
o Mild
o Moderate
o Severe
o Profound
 Developmental-behavioral/sequential
o Sensorimotor
o Preoperational
o Concrete operational
o Formal operational
APH CONTINUUM- DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL
 Less stigmatizing
 Assumes progress is always achievable at any age
 Emphasizes characteristics of learning styles so that more
appropriate instructional strategies can be provided
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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THE INTERVENTIONS
 Sensorimotor
o The Sensory Learning Kit (SLK)
 Late sensorimotor, early preoperational
o Symbols and Meaning (SAM)
 Late preoperational, concrete operational
o Tactile Connections
SENSORIMOTOR DEVELOPMENT (SLK)
 Random movements become intentional
 Actions are repeated to produce a desired consequence
 Desired objects not immediately seen or touched are searched
for
 New strategies are used for obtaining desired outcomes
LATE SENSORIMOTOR, EARLY PREOPERATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT (SAM)
 Basic concepts emerge, but are based on the learner’s personal
experience
 Concepts are one-dimensional and rigid
 Symbols with concrete referents are used to facilitate thinking
about things in memory but not present
 Basic concepts are expanded through assimilation and
accommodation
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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LATE PREOPERATIONAL, CONCRETE OPERATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT (TACTILE CONNECTIONS)
 Objects can be classified according to multiple variables
 Concepts become less egocentric, thinking from another point of
view is possible
 Categorical labels such as “person,” “animal,” “food,” etc.
become available
 Symbols become more arbitrary and represent things that are
more abstract
SLK PROVIDES STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR HELPING
LEARNERS
 Pay attention to learning media with attractive sensory
characteristics
 Explore high interest learning media presented in highly
modified activities
 Use intentional behaviors to complete desired outcomes in
familiar routines
SAM PROVIDES STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR
 Building concepts and schemes in natural environments
 Establishing meaning for symbols based on sensory
experiences
 Introducing first symbols
TACTILE CONNECTIONS PROVIDES STRATEGIES AND
ACTIVITIES FOR
 Using part-object and arbitrary tactile symbols in augmentative
communication systems
 Using part-object and arbitrary tactile symbols as a functional
literacy medium
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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WHO USES SAM?
 Learners who are just starting to use symbols
o Cognitively, about two to four years
o Chronologically, about two years and up
 Learners who can say words, but do not understand the
meaning of words said or heard
WHAT FIRST SYMBOLS ARE INTRODUCED IN SAM?
 Single Words
 Objects presented in communication contexts
 Mimicked actions
WHICH IS IT: NATURAL CONTEXT OR COMMUNICATION
CONTEXT?
 Bath tub
 Fire station
 Calendar box
 Craft table
 Experience story
 Refrigerator
 Sam game
HOW IS MEANING RELATED TO SYMBOLS?
 A symbol is meaningful if it calls to mind the thing to which it
refers
 The symbol develops meaning by being paired with the actual
thing to which it refers in here and now experiences
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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HOW DOES MEANING DEVELOP?
 A symbol is a label that opens a mental file
 Meaning is determined by the file contents
 These contents are called a “concept”
 Concepts are thoughts about things that develop over time as a
result of direct experiences with people and objects in the
environment
 Files organized into patterns get put into folders called
“schemes”
SAM CONCEPT CATEGORIES
 People: the self and others
 Objects: tangible things
 Actions: body movement of the self and others
 Places: where things are, contexts for groups of things
HOW IS MEANING AFFECTED BY VISION LOSS?
 “delays in active exploration or variations in concrete
experiences” result in
o Absent and incomplete concepts
o Objects experienced out of context and without intended
function
o Words without meaning
o Concrete referents are missing
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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CONCRETE REFERENT
 An object, person, action, or place
 Given the symbol for it, the learner can touch it, point to it, do it,
or go to it (direct sensory experience)
CONNECT THE RELATED WORDS IN EACH COLUMN
Concept
Label
Symbol
Folder
Scheme
File
CONNECT THE WORD AND ITS DEFINITION
Symbol
An organized pattern of
knowledge about how things are
related
Concept
Thoughts about a thing based on
direct sensory experience
Scheme
Concrete referent
The source of the direct sensory
experience referred to by the
symbol
A word, object, or mimicked
action that stands for a thing
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: THE GAME APPROACH
 Non-threatening and fun
 Abiding structure from context to context
 Maximize active learning
 Appropriate at any age
 Facilitate sibling and peer cooperative learning
SAM CONCEPT LEVELS
 Concepts about the learner’s own body
 Concepts about people, objects, and actions touching the
learner’s body
 Concepts about people, objects, actions, and places beyond the
learner’s body
 Schemes about people-object-action-place relationships in
events beyond the learner’s body
SENSORY INFORMATION BUILDS CONCEPTS AND SCHEMES
 Near senses
o Touch
o Taste
 Distance senses
o Vision
o Hearing
o Smell
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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INFORMATION GATHERED IS PRIMARILY NEAR OR DISTANCE?
 Learner’s own body
 People, objects, actions touching the learner’s body
 People, objects, actions, and places beyond the learner’s body
 People-object-action-place relationships in events beyond the
learner’s body
INFORMATION BTB AND IMPAIRED VISION
 Use to maximum extent possible
 Provide appropriate modifications
o Acuity loss
o Field loss
o CVI
 Pair with touch experiences
INFORMATION ABOUT THINGS BTB WITHOUT VISION
 Available distance senses: hearing and smell
 Hearing: environmental sounds and voices
 Problems with overdependence on auditory input
o Hearing sounds gives no information about the source of the
sound without associated touch (SAM CD)
o Hearing voices helps learner recognize people and determine
their location, but words used may not be meaningful
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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INFORMATION BTB WITHOUT VISION: BRIDGING STRATEGY
 Pair near and distance input
 Distance input used alone to bring to mind experience in which
near and distance information was paired (Sensory bridging)
 Word and object symbols are helpful as bridges to distance
information only if they are grounded in touch experience
(Symbolic bridging)
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Outreach Programs
1100 West 45th Street
Austin, Texas 78756
512-454-8631
www.tsbvi.edu
Figure 1 TSBVI Outreach Programs logo
Figure 2 OSEP logo
This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Special Education Programs (OSEP). Opinions expressed herein are
those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the
U.S. Department of Education.
2010 Texas Focus: Learning From Near To Far – M. Smith
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