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A Piagetian Model for Observation of Verbal, Nonvocal, and Nonverbal Cognitive Behavior in HearingImpaired Infants and Young Children Kathee M. Christensen It is difficult to assess the cognitive strengths and communicative potential of profoundly, congenitally deaf infants and toddlers. Typical preschool tests and scales focus on a limited set of developmental steps that are easily discerned in young children who have normal hearing. No empirical evidence supports the notion that these developmental milestones are equivalent for children with severe to profound hearing losses. In fact, several studies point out the danger in using tests designed for hearing children to predict or measure functional levels of deaf children (Martin 1985). A child who seeks to understand his or her world primarily through the sense of sight, without full benefit of natural auditory stimuli, may manifest cognitive and communicative strengths in ways that differ from children with normal hearing. Teachers and clinicians who can observe and understand the qualitative communicative variances of deaf infants and toddlers will have valuable information regarding the strategies these children employ to learn and to attempt communication. A format for the observation and analysis of nonverbal, nonvocal, and verbal cognitive behavior of deaf children is an important tool for those individuals responsible for the assessment and education of young, deaf children. A PIAGETIAN MODEL Piaget (1959) has taught us that children must construct their own knowledge and assimilate new experiences in ways that make sense to them. This activity 377 378 Programs for Applied Research occurs despite the fact that an experience may make sense to the adult mind in a way that differs dramatically from its interpretation by the child. An example is the little boy who, when observing the fluffy white clouds at the end of a rainstorm, thought of his bathtub sponge and said, "Look, Mommy, the clouds are all squeezed dry!" This analogy was logical for the two-year-old and a humorous anecdote for his mother. The wise adult probably will not launch into a lecture about the scientific fundamentals that cause changes in weather, but will instead note the young child's creativity and appreciate his attempt at figuring out a complicated phenomenon. A teacher who understands the developmental stages of Piagetian theory will view the incident as an example of Stage II behavior and add that bit of information to her overall view of the child. We know that simply telling a child a fact will not ensure the understanding or retention of that fact, nor will presenting a child with a dictionary ensure the child's acquisition of language. How children develop cognitively and communicatively is a fascinating subject that only recently has received substantial attention in educational research. The ways in which thoughts can be communicated are many and varied. Children communicate through body movement, posture, gesture, facial expression , eye contact, and physical appearance. In turn, adults communicate to them in the same ways. Often what we say to a child is less important to that child than the way we say it. Nonverbal communication in the classroom is vital to the overall understanding of communication and cognitive potential. A Piagetian approach to assessment of communication and cognitive development allows the observer to record and evaluate both nonverbal and verbal behavior within the parameters of the four-stage epigenetic model that Piaget described. Stage I is called the sensorimotor stage and is divided into six substages. Although early in his career Piaget assigned age approximations to his model, current theory disregards any attempt to attach specific age equivalents to the stages or substages. Some children may develop earlier than others; however, the important point is that development occurs and proceeds in a logical, orderly, but somewhat flexible manner. Stage I development is highlighted by the demonstration of object permanence and causality, among other examples of cognitive behavior. It is critical for teachers of deaf and deaf-blind children to be able to observe such behaviors as they occur spontaneously with or without the support of language. A deaf infant or toddler may prefer to display intentional behavior and symbolic play through nonverbal rather than verbal or vocal instruments. Deaf-blind infants may need extended, guided practice with tactile exploration before naturally exhibiting object permanence. Gestures used for communication can be observed in both deaf and hearing children who have developed to substage 6 of the sensorimotor stage. These communicative gestures indicate that the child has advanced in the understanding of symbolic meaning to the extent that preoperational cognitive...

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