Where is the child functioning?
Sensorimotor stage
Learners who are functioning developmentallyfrom birth to 2-years old and can have only a visual impairment or a visual impairment and additional disabilities.. This includes infants with visual impairments, toddlers with visual impairments and mild to severe developmental delays, and school age students early with moderate to severe delays. / Preoperational stage
Learners who are functioning developmentally from age 2 to 4-5 years and can have only a visual impairment or a visual impairment and additional disabilities. The child is beginning to remember and organize previous experiences and use symbols that represent components of those experiences; making sense of his/her world by developing an understanding of what things are, what they do and how they relate to other things.
What is the child doing?
- Developing attention (what is this?)
- Exploring objects (what can I do with it?)
- Learning to understand function (what do other people do with it?)
- Just starting to use symbols (may be a SLK partial participation level learners and/or late sensorimotor stage)
- Building concepts and vocabulary in new environments (early preoperational stage)
- Using some words, but does not understand the meaning of the words they say and/or hear (uses echolalia or speech without understanding the meaning)
What does the child need?
Basic cognitive, communication, social and motor development skills. / The development of a strong sensory foundation to learn concepts about people, objects, actions and places so that the symbols referring to them are meaningful.
What does SLK do? / What does SAM do?
Supports the development of instructional routines that:
- understands the child’s physiological and sensory learning needs
- maximize alertness
- identify the child’s preferred learning media
- identify appropriately assessed instructional goals and teaching strategies
- introduces first symbols
- establishes meaning for symbols/language by systematically developing near and distance sensory experiences to support learning
- builds concepts and schemes
How does SLK do this? / How does SAM do this?
- Systematically reviewing the child’s medical and educational history
- Identifying the child’s arousal states and giving a profile of typical patterns
- Assessing responses to media in various sensory channels to identify a positive orienting response and determining the level of the child’s orienting response.
- creating learning opportunities and providing direct instruction in natural environments
- assessment of environments, activities, objects, people and actions to identify gaps in understanding
- assessment of concepts related to early academic vocabulary and skills
- developing near/distant sensory bridges
- using games to support the repetition and generalization of learning