A Blind Child's Pathway to Learning: Developing Cognition Without Sight

By Dr. William Cavitt and Dr. Thomas Gwise

Our intention in writing this book is to provide three distinct but closely related groups with insight into the factors required to help a blind child attain his/her maximum level of cognitive abilities. The first group consists of parents who face the day to day reality of helping their blind child deal with the challenges imposed by the lack of sight. The second group consists of beginning and future professionals who will find themselves deeply involved with providing social, psychological, and educational support of these parents. The third group includes friends, family, and others who are not and will not be on the front lines of working with blind children, but who are interested in understanding the issues for their own reasons.
There are many articles and books available that discuss the various aspects of the development of both sighted and blind children from almost every possible perspective related to the factors that impact the learning and developmental processes of children. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these have been written by professionals to professionals, using the jargon of the author's chosen field of study. As a result, people who are not part of the "in groups" often find these publications hard to understand, boring, or both. In this book, we do not aim to provide any new insights to established professionals or other individuals who are knowledgeable in this area. Rather, our purpose is to translate the knowledge provided by these professionals into ideas and concepts that can be readily understood and applied by parents, teachers, and other caregivers of blind children.
Throughout the book, we will be dealing with highly specialized concepts and theories of education, psychology, and human development. We have done our best to translate the professional and academic jargon into what most people would call "simple English. Throughout the text, we have provided our definitions of key terms as we have come to understand and apply those terms. We recognize that others may have different interpretations for the same terms, and we do not dispute that their definitions serve their particular purposes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491842836

Dr. William Cavitt

William F. Cavitt Biographical Data William F. Cavitt was born July 13, 1940, in Corning, Arkansas, a small town in the northeastern part of the state. His family was tenant farmers who worked very hard. Bill did not like farm work so at the age of 15 he ran off and joined the U.S. Navy. In the navy he progressed through the enlisted ranks very rapidly to Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9), working primarily on top secret projects. While serving on a small patrol boat in Vietnam, he became interested in education. Having dropped out of school in the 10th grade he was required to complete his high school through the General Education and Development (GED) program. Bill received his high school diploma from Bremington College Adult High School, Bremington, Washington, even though he has never been there. While serving in Hawaii he entered Chaminade College of Honolulu where he received a Bachelors of General Studies in Sociology and Psychology. Upon being transferred to Pensacola, Florida he entered the University of West Florida where he received his Masters Degree in Psychology. Bill retired from the navy at the age of 35 and shortly thereafter he started his doctoral program. He was awarded his doctors degree in Education, concentrating on Educational Psychology (primarily in Instructional Systems Design and Development using computer technology). As an Education Specialist and Education Psychologist with the Federal Government, Bill was responsible for the design and development of various highly technological instructional programs. He served as the Deputy Director of Navy Technical Training at the Chief of Naval Education and Training, Pensacola, Florida where he was in charge of about 70 program managers of instructional systems. After retiring from the Department of Defense, Bill taught Psychology at Darton College, a small two year college in Albany, Ga. He truly loved his teaching experience at Darton, but the illness and eventual death of his oldest son required him to resign and move back to Pensacola, Florida. After leaving Darton, Bill went into private practice as a psychotherapist at the Center for Holistic Rational Living and became the director. In 2002 he gave up his practice to help care for his new grandson (Cavitt Izon Breeze) who was born blind. Bill was a Clinical Counselor at The Naval Support Activity where he treated active duty personnel and their family members until he went full time as an Assistant Professor for Troy University. Bill is now semi-retired performing minimal amounts of individual and marriage counseling and serving on the Florida State Board for Clinical Counselors and Social Workers. He has been married forty-five years to Patricia Anne (Izon) Cavitt and they have three children: Jennifer, Kimberly, Ernest, and seven grandchildren: Rachel, Jacob, Hannah, Olivia, Cavitt, Hannah, and Lauren. Thomas E. Gwise Biographical Data Thomas E. (Tom) Gwise was born in Utica, New York on 5 June 1939. In 1957, he entered the U.S. Navy and served on active duty in the fields of electronic maintenance and human resource development until his retirement as a Chief Warrant Officer-3 in 1978. During his naval career, he served aboard four ships and spent overseas tours in Morocco and Vietnam. After leaving the Navy, in 1979, Tom was employed by the Federal Government with the Naval Training Systems Center in Orlando, Florida in the field of training system acquisition. Initially employed as an Education Specialist, he was first advanced to Sr. Integrated Logistics Specialist and then to Assistant Project Director. After a tour with a Department of Defense agency in Washington DC, he returned to Florida as the Head of the Training and Publications Division. He retired from this position in 1989 to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Since leaving the Federal Government, Tom has worked with several defense contractors as technical writer and instructional developer. As the owner of his own consulting firm, he has developed and presented seminars for private and governmental organizations. He has also been active in the academic environment as both a full time faculty member with Barry University (Associate Professor of Education) and an adjunct faculty member teaching leadership, management, technical writing, and education for several colleges, including National Louis University, Nova University, Florida Southern College, and Southern Illinois University He is currently employed by a defense contractor as a Sr. Instructional Developer and he also serves as an Assistant Visiting Professor with Southern Illinois University. Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts in History (University of Hawaii), a Bachelor of General Studies in History/Political Science (Chaminade College), a Master of Arts in American Studies (University of Hawaii), a Master of Education in Educational Foundations (Pepperdine University-Hawaii Program), and Doctorate in Education in Administration and Supervision (Florida Atlantic University). He resides in Merritt Island, Florida with his wife, Patricia. They have four children, nine grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Book preview

cover.jpg

AuthorHouse™ LLC

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2013 Dr. William Cavitt & Dr. Thomas Gwise. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/11/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-4282-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-4283-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013922706

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter1.  Developing Cognition Without Sight: An Overview

Chapter2.  Relationship Of Holistic Wellbeing And Cognition

Chapter3.  Cognitive Development In Blind Children

Chapter4.  Foundations Of Cognitive Development

Chapter5.  Learning And Cognition

Chapter6.  Using Play, Games, And Toys To Enhance Cognition

Chapter7.  Facilitating A Blind Child’s Academic Success

Chapter8.  Selecting A Formal Education Pathway For A Blind Child

Chapter9.  Afterword

About The Authors

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Cavitt Izon Breeze who provided the authors the opportunity to observe the cognitive development process in a congenitally blind child from birth to age 11. It is also dedicated to two special teachers who have gone the extra mile to ensure Cavitt’s cognitive wellbeing and academic success. Ms. Shirley Strickland was Cavitt’s public school Exceptional Special Education (ESE) teacher in the first and second grades. After retiring from the public school system, she has been retained by the family to provide Cavitt with twice weekly tutoring. We also must recognize Ms. Patti Johnson who has been Cavitt’s teacher of the blind since age three. She has patiently taught him to read Braille and master many other tasks without him ever having seen light. Cavitt and his family owe a sincere debt of gratitude to these two outstanding teachers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is based on the almost daily observations of a blind child’s progress in developing his cognitive abilities from birth to age 11. However, to ascribe validity to such observations, they must be grounded in research and supported in the literature. In addition to the theorists who we discuss in the book, we also extend our thanks to the numerous unnamed researchers and writers who have devoted a large share of their professional lives to unraveling the process of cognitive development in blind children. We have drawn from many of these experts in formulating our own concepts. We owe each of them a large debt of gratitude for their contributions in making this book a reality.

PREFACE

Our intention in writing this book is to provide three distinct but closely related groups with insight into the factors required to help a blind child attain his/her maximum level of cognitive abilities. The first group consists of parents who face the day to day reality of helping their blind child deal with the challenges imposed by the lack of sight. The second group consists of beginning and future professionals who will find themselves deeply involved with providing social, psychological, and educational support of these parents. The third group includes friends, family, and others who are not and will not be on the front lines of working with blind children, but who are interested in understanding the issues for their own reasons.

There are many articles and books available that discuss the various aspects of the development of both sighted and blind children from almost every possible perspective related to the factors that impact the learning and developmental processes of children. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these have been written by professionals to professionals, using the jargon of the author’s chosen field of study. As a result, people who are not part of the in groups often find these publications hard to understand, boring, or both. In this book, we do not aim to provide any new insights to established professionals or other individuals who are knowledgeable in this area. Rather, our purpose is to translate the knowledge provided by these professionals into ideas and concepts that can be readily understood and applied by parents, teachers, and other caregivers of blind children.

Throughout the book, we will be dealing with highly specialized concepts and theories of education, psychology, and human development. We have done our best to translate the professional and academic jargon into what most people would call "simple English. Throughout the text, we have provided our definitions of key terms as we have come to understand and apply those terms. We recognize that others may have different interpretations for the same terms, and we do not dispute that their definitions serve their particular purposes. A synopsis of each chapter in the book is provided below.

Chapter 1, "Developing Cognition without Sight: an Overview ", introduces the reader to the various factors that impact the cognitive development of a blind child. These factors include the physical, psychological, social, and moral aspects of human development. The chapter also addresses specific intellectual developmental goals such as language, memory, reasoning, problem solving, concept development, and creativity."

Chapter 2, "Relationship of Holistic Wellbeing and Cognition ", reviews the relationship of wellbeing to a blind child’s ability to successfully navigate the stages of cognitive development discussed in Chapter 3. We view wellbeing from a holistic approach which encompasses every aspect of a blind child’s cognitive development.

Chapter 3, "Cognitive Development in Blind Children", examines the stages of cognitive development and the processes that are undertaken in each stage. In comparing the differences between sighted and blind children as they move through the stages, we focus on the impact of blindness on the blind child’s ability to master each stage. Particular emphasis is placed on the prolonged time a blind child requires to achieve stage mastery. We also identify the learning theories that we consider the most appropriate to the development of cognition in a blind child.

Chapter 4: "Major Aspects of Cognitive Development" identifies and discusses what we consider to be the most important aspects of cognitive development: language, concept formation, attention, information processing and memory, creativity, knowledge and wisdom, problem solving, and intelligence. The Oregon Project is presented as a model for testing a blind child’s cognitive development. The role of technology in assisting the blind child to develop his/her cognitive abilities is also discussed.

Chapter 5, "Learning and Cognition, "introduces the psychologists and educational theorists whom we consider to be the most significant contributors to the fields of learning and cognitive development. Their perspectives related to the laws of learning, key learning theories and learning domains continue to stand out in the attempt to more accurately define how people learn. Their thinking is most closely aligned with our own conclusions, which have been drawn from our own studies, experiences, and observations.

Chapter Six, "Using Play, Games, and Toys to Enhance Cognition" discusses the linkage of play and the progressive development of cognitive skills in a blind child. Using toys, games, and play activities, blind children develop essential cognitive skills which help them make sense of their world. These skills include, but are not limited to, language and literacy skills and concepts, flexible and divergent thinking, creativity, and problem solving. Four types of play are highlighted, toys and games that are effective in helping blind children develop cognitive skills are identified, and the importance of toy safety in emphasized.

Chapter Seven, Facilitating a Blind Child’s Academic Success points out that the mastery of several basic skills is critical to a blind child’s success in school. Foremost among these skills is language. No academic subject can be successfully pursued without a solid language foundation, which includes the key elements of good grammar, correct spelling, and literacy. In addition to language, proficiency in basic arithmetic and mathematics is required. These are the most important academic skills for any student, blind or sighted; without these skills, the ability to acquire more advanced formal education is severely limited. The ability of a blind child to master areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is also discussed.

Chapter Eight, "Selecting a Formal Education Pathway for a Blind Child, discusses the various factors that should be considered. These factors include the laws and regulations that govern education for the blind, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Federal Register (Thursday, June 8, 2000) Part IV, Department of Education Educating Blind and Visually Impaired Students; Policy Guidance; Notice, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and state and local laws. A comparison of the performance of Public Schools and Schools for the Blind is provided. This chapter also explains the importance of developing an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a blind child, and it indentifies the key elements of this plan and discusses the key role played by paraprofessionals. Suggestions and recommendations relative to making the choice to mainstream a blind child or enroll the child in a school for the blind are also given.

Chapter 9, "Afterword", provides reviews of books that relate the educational experiences of eleven congenitally blind children in their own words or in the words of people close to them. The insight provided by these eleven individuals serves to reinforce the major concepts of this book.

CHAPTER ONE

Developing Cognition without Sight: an Overview

Introduction

While various reference sources provide differing definitions of cognition, they all center on the idea that cognition refers to the acquisition of knowledge and the development of understanding through the mental processes of thinking and the physical processes of experiencing the environment. As a result of these mental and physical processes, all children develop thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they progress through the various physical, moral, social, psychological, and cognitive stages of development.

In all respects save one, the development of cognition in a blind child parallels that of a sighted child However, the blind child has been deprived of what is arguably the most important sense in the development of cognition: vision. In this book, we briefly explore the key factors that impact the blind child’s development of the cognitive abilities required to live a fulfilling life. We also suggest a number of actions that parents, teachers, and other primary care givers can take to assist in the cognitive development of a blind child.

Cognitive Development Process

The process of cognitive development has been well documented in hundreds of research studies, scholarly articles, and books. These publications contain the findings of well respected psychologists and educators in the field of cognitive development. While each of these theorists has considered several developmental factors in reaching his/her conclusions, each of them has proposed one overarching explanation or theory for how people learn. Each of these theories has merit and is valid in explaining individual facets related to the development of cognition. However, to focus exclusively on one theory as the primary way people learn leads to a slanted and incomplete understanding of this complex process.

To fully understand and appreciate what is actually involved in this process a detailed schematic of how cognition is developed and employed is required. To construct such a schematic, we must meld the concepts contained in numerous perspectives and theories into a comprehensive whole. We have attempted to do this by presenting a holistic approach to explaining the paths a child follows in the development of cognition. As noted earlier, while these paths are followed by all children, in this book we focus on the blind child’s progression along his or her path to developing the skills that will be needed to live a fulfilling and successful life.

Developmental Aspects of a Blind Child

Before we can begin to understand how a blind child learns to cope in a sighted world, we must become familiar with the fundamental processes of child development. This means that we must become familiar with the dynamics of the physical, psychological, social, moral, and cognitive developmental aspects of a child’s evolution from newborn to adult. Our holistic approach to this evolution, which is presented in Chapter 2, provides a starting point from which we can increase our knowledge of the diverse issues involved; it also provides the basis for understanding how a blind child is influenced by the processes inherent in the development of each of the five areas noted.

With this knowledge and understanding, we can begin to empathize with the blind child in the struggle to develop the learning skills required to make sense of his/her world. As we begin this endeavor, it is imperative that we keep two guiding principles firmly in mind:

1. Given the absence of physical or mental impairment, all children progress through the same stages of development. However, blind children must follow a different path than do their sighted peers in the process of developing their cognitive abilities. Because their path is made more circuitous by their lack of visual input, blind children require a longer time frame in which to reach equivalent levels of cognition.

2. Before the cognitive development of a blind child can be adequately assessed, the person or persons charged with such an assessment must be firmly committed to the principle that a child’s blindness does not determine his or her cognitive and learning abilities.

We have chosen to illustrate these principles, both here and throughout the book, with the story of Cavitt, a congenitally blind child, from his birth to his 11th birthday.

Cavitt’s Story

Cavitt was born five and one-half weeks early on September 17, 2002 with bilateral micropthalmia, which resulted in his being totally blind. In addition to blindness, he was also born with reflux apnea, a condition that has been attributed to his early birth. Since birth, Cavitt has been evaluated and monitored by a number of specialists, who have diagnosed him as having bilateral micropthalmia (absent right eye and a scant remnant of the left eye resulting in no vision at all); hypotonic cerebral palsy (diminished muscle tone); and under-developed corpus-callosum; as well as developmental delays resulting solely from blindness which are experienced by virtually all children who are blind. A neurologist specializing in chromosome disorders discovered that he has a trisomy thirteen chromosome, a condition that may be a predisposition for his blindness and other physical problems.

Any form of mental retardation was ruled out, and the specialists recommended that Cavitt be allowed full opportunity to obtain the education required to enjoy total independent living as an adult. The first step to his reaching this goal was to address the specific problems that Cavitt would need to overcome before any meaningful cognitive development can take place. It must be emphasized that Cavitt’s learning ability is not limited by these physical characteristics. His ability to master various areas may be delayed, but if he is motivated and if he is provided the opportunity to master those areas, there is little that can stop him from so doing.

During his early months his family provided him with as much physical therapy as possible within their knowledge and ability. However, it became evident during the first six months of treatment that Cavitt required more professional help than physical therapy alone was providing. It became painfully apparent that he needed a regimented program designed to address physical, occupational, orientation and mobility, speech and cognitive problems in a holistic manner. The State Children’s Services Representative was consulted and a list of all physical therapists in the area was provided. The family chose one therapist from the list who was then assigned to make one home visit a week to treat Cavitt. The physical therapist conducted a complete evaluation of his range of movement, transition abilities, cognitive awareness, upper body strength and motion, along with his verbal ability. After her findings were substantiated by an independent Early Intervention Specialist from the State Health Department, and a professional team consisting of a Physical Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, a Speech Therapist, an Orientation and Mobility Therapist, and an Educational Specialist was assembled. This team addressed the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social issues identified in the therapists’ findings. The Physical Therapist provided one to two sessions a week working on gross motor skills, body transition from lying to sitting, and much later in the program, sitting to standing, and eventually standing to assisted walking. Each transitional act took hours of repetitive therapeutic intervention that was very difficult for Cavitt to master. Here It is important to note that physical therapy for a totally blind child is much different than that provided for a child who is sighted The sighted child can see others performing desired movements and can imitate these movements. It takes a tremendous effort for a child who is blind just to develop a confidence level to perform simple tasks such as turning in a desired direction.

Unlike a sighted child, a blind child can more easily be taught the wrong way of doing something and subsequent attempts to correct that mistake may cause the child to become so apprehensive to certain movements that the therapist will need to start over from the beginning. Ensuring that a blind child eventually masters the required movements requires a great deal of effort and patience