Cognition, Education, and Deafness: Directions for Research and Instruction

The Development of Perceptual Processes and Problem-Solving Activities in Normal, Hearing-Impaired,and Language-Disturbed Children

The Development of Perceptual Processes and Problem-Solving Activities in Normal, HearingImpaired , and Language-Disturbed Children Felicie Affolter Developmental skills appear and improve in a regular sequence in normal children. Severely hearing-impaired children develop similarly to normal children (Furth, 1966); performances that do not require auditory information-processing show the same sequence of stages. Gaps can be accounted for by the auditory impairment and are predictable. Current theories of development account for such observations. They assume the existence of a direct relationship between skills and stages; complex skills develop out of simple skills in a regular manner (Mussen, 1970). For some theories, such development occurs continuously, for others it occurs in stages. However, such a model does not account for the results of our observational study conducted with a group of children with language and learning problems. One subgroup of children had additional severe hearing losses, the other subgroup did not (Affolter & Stricker, 1980). Longitudinal findings underlined that the sequences of skill acquisition of these children differed substantially from normal controls. Investigations of perceptual performances and of problem-solving activities of these children revealed two other important differences. First, hearing-impaired children were like normals in successive pattern and form recognition in different modality conditions and in problem-solving activities. Second, children with severe language and learning problems, with or without a hearing loss, differed from the normal and hearing-impaired children (a) in successive pattern recognition in all modality conditions; (b) in the recognition of tactile but not of visual forms (Affolter & Stricker, 1980); and (c) in the evaluative but not in the hypothetic or feedback aspects of problem-solving activities. The investigators inferred that severely language-disabled and learningdisturbed children with or without hearing loss exhibit perceptual disturbances not of a visual but of a tactile-kinesthetic or intermodal kind. Such disturbances seem to inhibit adequate evaluation of information when solving problems in daily life situations. Observations of problem-solving activities of normal children (Bower, 1977) and hearing-impaired children over the years suggest that tactile-kinesthetic experiences arising out of such activities are basic to development. Since language-disturbed children fail in such experiences, their development is therefore disturbed. To account for such longitudinal and cross-sectional findings, another model of development must be described, one that assumes no direct relaPreparation of this article was supported in part by Swiss National Science Foundation Grants 3.237.69,3.448.70,3.902.72,3.2050.73,3.504.75, 3.711.76, and 3.929-0.78. The complete version of this paper is available in microfiche or hard copy from ERIC Document Reproduction Service. Ask for Document No. ED 247 708. 44 tionship among skills or stages. Complex skills do not develop out of simple skills in a direct manner. Skills develop out of tactile-kinesthetic interactions with reality in the form of problem-solving activities. Experience of this kind allows for the acquisition of limited sets of tactile-kinesthetic-visual and/or tactile-kinesthetic-auditory rules. A given set of such rules permits an infinite number of performances. These rules, which gain increasing complexity , at first permit performances that are characteristic of lower levels of development, while later performances are characteristic of higher developmentallevels . The results of the investigations described here have direct implications for teaching and research. Teachers must now 1. Focus on the acquisition of a limited set of tactile-kinesthetic-visual rules and not on the acquisition of a list of numerous skills. 2. Provide an environment of reality that confronts the child continually with problems of daily life and permits active tactilekinesthetic exploration (Affolter, 1981). 3. Ascertain that children extract adequate tactile-kinesthetic information when interacting with the environment (Affolter, 1974). Researchers must consider the possibility that tactile-kinesthetic interaction with the environment is necessary for development. There is a lack of information about tactile-kinesthetic information processing and its relationship to cognitive development (Pick, 1980) and existing disturbances. Further research in this area must be conducted. Interaction with the environment gives the child the required experience for extracting basic sets of tactile-kinesthetic rules. There is little knowledge yet about which sets of tactile-kinesthetic rules underlie developmental performances. How these rules are acquired and what kinds of disturbances are possible are important areas to investigate. References Affolter, F. (1974). Einsatz und Beschrankung der audio-visuellen Methode im Sprachaufbau des schwer horbehinderten Kindes. In Verein Desterreichischer Taubstummenlehrer (Eds.), Audio-visuelle Mittel und Medien im Unterricht Horgeschiidigter . Linz: Trauner. Affolter...