Multisensory Approach Research Articles

Putting it Together: Musical Theater and Literacy for Children with Visual Impairments

Musical theater integrated into the curriculum for students with visual impairments is a unique and powerful vehicle for learning. The very essence of musical theater showcases storytelling through dialogue, as well as depicting emotion in music, dance, and human interaction. Through the use of musical theater, students with visual impairments can read a script or lyrics from a song, listen to music that conveys emotion, interact with classmates in role-playing activities, and learn from a unique and creative point of view. Using this multisensory approach for instruction creates a learning environment that connects students with each other and generates understanding and functional skill building through their interactions with the material. VSA, the international organization on arts and disability (previously known as Very Special Arts), affirms that the arts are often utilized to help students with disabilities improve their academic performance because of the engaging and interactive nature of artistic material (2008). Literacy lessons that incorporate musical theater components can give students with visual impairments imaginative ways of interpreting stories through a combination of visual, tactual, auditory, and kinesthetic channels to convey meaning. When incorporated with storytelling, movement, and functional skills, musical theater seamlessly integrates academic requirements with many of the concepts from the expanded core curriculum (ECC). Whether attending a live production or watching a movie musical in the classroom, students can learn about storytelling and character development through comical character interchange, rousing chorus numbers, or the swell of emotion from a song. Although watching musical theater in the school setting creates opportunities to teach both academic and functional skills, attending a live theatrical production can also reinforce an additional combination of skills in as many as seven of the nine areas of the ECC (including social interaction, orientation and mobility, sensory efficiency, and recreation and leisure skills). ECC skills that must be planned and deliberately taught can be part of learning about attending the theater (Sapp & Hatlen, 2010, p. 340). Furthermore, classroom discussion about attending live theater also allows students the opportunity to learn about something they might not otherwise have been exposed to. CREATING LESSONS IN MUSICAL THEATER An ideal way to introduce a class to musical theater is to incorporate fundamental elements of music, song, and theatrical terminology as a component of a literacy lesson. Selecting books written specifically about the theater for the lesson is one such way to acquaint students with some of these fundamentals. Harriet Ziefert's Lights on Broadway: A Theatrical Tour from A to Z (2009) is written for a young audience, yet the content is appropriate for all ages because of its concise theatrical anecdotes and information from Broadway's theater professionals. Part of the visual appreciation of a performance is seeing actors moving on stage to illustrate a point. In order to better explain to students with visual impairments how or why actors move onstage, lessons illustrating movement terms like upstage or stage left should be included in the unit. Putting such theatrical terms into practice by asking students to physically move upstage or stage left is a way to modify an academic-based lesson of reading and writing into one that also includes elements of the ECC. Introducing students to the importance of song in musical theater can unlock an entirely new way for teachers and students to engage in academic subjects. Students learn that music and song serve an important element in storytelling: They immediately set the tone of a character's feelings and the mood of a scene in a way that lighting or words alone cannot do. Students with visual impairments, therefore, learn that it is important that they pay attention to the songs and incidental music when watching musicals. …

Materiality, social roles and the senses: Domestic landscape and social identity in the estâncias of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

This article provides a multisensory approach to the past and suggests new possibilities for assessing history through the senses. Using a phenomenological approach, the author analyses how the domestic space of Southern Brazilian estâncias, ranches dedicated to livestock farming, dynamically influenced the social identities of their inhabitants in the 19th century. She argues that what people saw, heard, smelt, touched and tasted in their daily lives, as well as the intensity and frequency of these sensory experiences, was dependent not simply on their own bodily capability as human beings, but also on their social status. The article also explores how the rancher’s house, the slave quarters and the barn, the three buildings that constituted the estância’s core complex, influenced the development of particular body routines and the creation and reproduction of particular somatic spaces. The methodology presented here invites a sensorial exploration of historical sites, contributing to a more humanised account of the relationship between individuals and things.

Teaching Reading and Spelling to Adult Learners: The Multisensory Structured Language Approach

All over the World most effective methods for teaching reading to beginning-level adults have been applied. My continuing challenge has been to determine how reading acquisition research can be applied to teaching reading to adults. In this article, I describe the techniques I have found most useful; I hope other teachers working with beginning readers will find them helpful. This year my class includes 18 students all were men six men. Their ages range from late 20s to late 50s and all are employed. Their educational experiences range from completing four to 12 years of school; 12 students have a high secondary school certificate, 03 students have Higher. Secondary School Certificate and 03 students were graduates.

Comparative Effects of Multisensory and Metacognitive Instructional Approaches on English Vocabulary Achievement of Underachieving Nigerian Secondary School Students

The purpose of this study was to find out the relative effects of three instructional Approaches i.e. Multisensory, Metacognitive, and a combination of Multisensory and Metacognitive Instructional Approaches on the Vocabulary achievement of underachieving Secondary School Students. The study adopted the quasi-experimental design in which a pre-test, post-test, non - randomized, non-equivalent control group design was employed. One hundred and twenty [120 students-60 males and 60 females] were selected from four secondary schools within the Ilorin metropolis through stratified random sampling technique. The four schools were categorized into three experimental groups and one control group according to the design of the study. The instructional programmes for the teachers and the achievement test for the students were prepared by the researcher from the students’ English text books according to the curriculum specifications and the past questions from the JSS NECO past questions .Six major hypotheses were generated for the study. All of them were based on the general effects of the three instructional approaches on the underachieving students’ vocabulary achievement. The results were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance [ANCOVA]. The Duncan Multiple Range Test was used to confirm which pairs of the variables were significantly different. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in the overall achievement of the students taught using the three approaches. In other words, each of the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group. However, the findings indicated that the Multisensory Instructional Approach [MSIA] was the most potent of the three modes. It was recommended that English Language teachers should consider the interest of the underachievers by employing the Multisensory approach to teach them.

Handwriting Without Tears versus Teacher-Designed Handwriting Instruction in First Grade Classrooms

Occupational therapists working in school-based practice provide handwriting interventions using a variety of approaches. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design was utilized to examine the effectiveness of the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) program compared to standard, teacher-designed handwriting programs in eight first grade classrooms. At each of four schools, one first grade classroom participated in a standard handwriting program typically conducted by the teacher (control group, N = 54), and another first grade classroom utilized the HWT program (experimental group, N = 67). The Minnesota Handwriting Assessment was used to compare the handwriting skills of the students. The control group showed a higher average posttest scores compared to the HWT group in each subtest of the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in average posttest scores for the experimental and control groups for students receiving special education services. Though our study did not support HWT as being a more effective method of handwriting instruction than a standard method of handwriting instruction, the findings do demonstrate that handwriting skills of students in both groups improved, thus supporting the viability of using a multisensory handwriting approach, such as HWT, in the classroom.

Perceptual reversal of bi-stable figures in microgravity and hypergravity during parabolic flight

This experiment investigated whether the perception of depth-reversible figures is altered when the observer is in microgravity or hypergravity. A set of five bi-stable ambiguous figures was presented to ten participants in 1 g, 0 g, and 1.8 g during parabolic flight. The figures included static images such as the Necker cube; kinetic depth displays such as a moving plaid and a sphere cluster of moving dots appearing to rotate in one of two directions; and a silhouette photograph. For each stimulus figure, subjects reported which of the two possible perceptual configurations they saw first and then continuously indicated when perceptual reversals occurred for durations ranging from 20 to 30 s. The same first percept was reported in 1 g, 0 g, and 1.8 g. The time delay for the first reversal between the two possible image interpretations was longer and the number of reversals was fewer in 0 g as compared to 1 g for four of the five figures. The opposite effects were seen when going from 0 g to 1.8 g. These findings confirm that, consistent with a multisensory approach to three-dimensional form perception, gravity has a clear effect on the interpretation of depth-based stimuli and this gravity-based component interferes with visual perception stability.

A multi-sensory approach to enhancing Chinese writing

To help students who have difficulty in creative writing, it is important to design pedagogy that suits their needs. This paper reports the design and evaluation of a pedagogical approach for average and lower-ability tertiary students. A multi-sensory approach to instruction on Chinese writing was tested in three associate degree classes (N = 100). The students were taught with a multi-sensory approach in writing Chinese essays in three distinct genres (descriptive, narrative and expressive). The essays were assessed by three assessors: (a) the writer (the student himself or herself ), (b) a peer, and (c) the teacher at two time points (before and after the instruction). A 2 (time) X3 (genre) X3 (assessor) repeated-measures analysis of variance found statistically significant main effects and also interaction effects. Overall, the approach improved students' writing over time in all three writing genres. However, the effects were stronger for the expressive and descriptive genres and the students did not find their improvement in the narrative genre as strong as in the other genres. To improve average and lower-ability students' writing in Chinese, the multi-sensory approach may be helpful, especially in the expressive and descriptive genres.

Inspiration from Nature—Biomimetic Materials Workshop at the San Diego Zoo

The Biomimetic Materials Workshop, a continuing education program during TMS 2011 Annual Meeting, was held in the world famous San Diego Zoo on Sunday, February 27. This one-day workshop organized by the Biological Materials Science Committee in collaboration with the Zoological Society of San Diego attracted a multidisciplinary group of over 30 participants. Despite the record-setting low temperature and storm the day before, San Diego sunshine welcomed participants on Sunday morning. After arriving at Rondavel Hall in the zoo and breakfast, Po-Yu Chen, the workshop organizer from The University of California at San Diego (UCSD), made brief welcoming remarks. The first speaker was Dena Emmerson, the representative of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. She introduced the zoo’s Biomimicry Program, which offers unparalleled facilities in this growing field with 4,000 animals and 40,000 plant species. The Biomimicry Program has organized two annual conferences, monthly seminars, and workshops with companies such as Qualcomm, Nike, and P&G in an interactive and multisensory approach. The goal is to share the resources with local, national, and global communities to boost biomimicry, transforming San Diego as the hub for sustainable, nature-inspired innovations and ultimately benefit environmental conservation. Marc A. Meyers, a professor from UCSD, gave an overview on “Biological Materials—A Materials Science Approach.” He elucidated characteristic principles used in nature, namely hierarchical structure, multi-functionality, self-assembly under environmental conditions using basic building blocks. He gave several examples of structural biological materials, such as abalone shell, crab exoskeleton, Amazon fish scale, toucan beak, and natural adhesives (gecko, tree frog, abalone foot, etc.). Joanna McKittrck, also a professor from UCSD, presented “Taking Knowledge of Biological Materials to the Next Step,” bridging natural/ biological materials and bioinspired design and synthesis. Several impactresistant materials in nature were presented—such as antler, horn, armadillo and crocodile osteoderms, turtle shell—and followed by bio-inspired materials from ancient armors to novel self-healing composites. During the break, Kim, an educator from the zoo, brought in a South American three-banded armadillo, which has a unique armor made of bony plates, called osteoderms, and can roll into a ball to protect itself from predators. The osteoderms have sandwich architecture with porous neurovascular channels in the center and are connected by non-mineralized collagen fibrils. These microstructural features make the armor lightweight and flexible. The attendees were able to closely observe and touch the interesting creature and many of them even took pictures with “Armando” the armadillo (see Figure 1). Robert O. Ritchie, a professor with UC Berkeley, delivered a talk on “Bioinspired Tough Ceramics.” He first explained the mechanistic origins of toughness in natural ceramic-based composite (i.e., bone and abalone naFigure 1. Animal demonstration of the three banded armadillo showing (a) the protective posture, (b) photo shoot and tactile tour of the armor, and (c) microstructural features of armadillo armor. a b

Scenario-based touching: on the influence of top-down processes on tactile and visual appreciation

The aim was to propose a testing procedure that allows measuring ecological valid judgments as a tool for selecting e.g. surface materials in the design process. Precise measures are essential for evaluation processes for example in design research and applied studies. Contextual effects in form of top-down processes often lead to biases in measures such as quality or liking judgments. We examined contextual effects of such factors by varying specific instructions, which were based on everyday life scenarios. We also investigated the stability and ecological validity of evaluations with the focus on a multisensory approach involving vision plus touch, touch-only and vision-only conditions. Participants evaluated the materials, for preference in experiment 1, and for perceived material properties (thermal conductivity, hardness and roughness) in experiment 2—either with or without specific instructions. Results showed higher consistency in the vision plus touch condition than in the unimodal conditions. Moreover, preferences and perceived material properties strongly varied according to the presence and the content of instruction (scenarios). These results demonstrate the strong impact of top-down processes on tactile as well as visual judgments.

THE INFLUENCE OF AUDITORY CUES ON THE PERCEPTION OF, AND RESPONSES TO, FOOD AND DRINK

ABSTRACT Does what we hear influence our perception of, and behaviors toward, food and drink? If so, what are the mechanism(s) underlying these cross‐modal effects? While many people intuitively believe that our sense of hearing has little influence on our experiences of foodstuffs, the evidence that has been published to date suggests that this is not always the case. In this article, we review the growing body of empirical research demonstrating that what we hear can affect our perception of, and responses to, food and drink. We review both laboratory‐based research and real‐world (ecological) studies of the effects of music and other auditory stimuli on people's food‐related behaviors. This research has revealed that what we hear (be it music, the sounds we make while eating, or even pure tones or bursts of white noise) can have a dramatic effect on our perceptions of food and drink. Auditory stimuli influence people's consumption rates, their preference ratings and their flavor assessments, and have even been shown to significantly impact on the overall amount that people consume. We highlight a number of explanations, including multisensory integration, attention, associative learning and expectations, that have all been put forward in order to account for these cross‐modal effects. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThis manuscript examines the relationship between what people hear and their food and drink experiences, perceptions and behaviors. In previous research, auditory cues have been shown to influence people's purchasing decisions, flavor evaluations and their consumption rates of food and drink. The multisensory approach inherent to this line of research provides a means of enhancing culinary experiences for people in the years to come. In fact, some important practical interventions have already been made. For example, the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, England serves a “sounds of the sea” seafood dish. Those who select this dish are presented with a plate of seafood that is reminiscent of a beach, with an iPod (hidden in a seashell with the earphones poking out) that plays a “sounds of the sea” soundtrack. Innovations such as these, based on a solid understanding of the cognitive psychology and neuroscience of multisensory integration, may increasingly help to heighten our enjoyment and experience of food and drink.

Color Comprehension And Color Categories Among Blind Students: A Multi-Sensory Approach In Implementing Concrete Language To Include All Students In Advanced Writing Classes

This study investigates teaching methods regarding color comprehension and color categorization among blind students, as compared to their non-blind peers and whether they understand and represent the same color comprehension and color categories. Then after digit codes for color comprehension teaching and assistive technology for the blind had been implemented to replace the traditional way of teachings, their color comprehension was re-investigated through color categories test, examining their ability in distinguishing between shades of similar colors and expressing correct color naming that is relevant to given contexts. Further discussion from the study also reveals how this understanding of color comprehension and color categories can help modify print materials which would allow blind students, students with low vision, as well as those with color blindness to be exposed to all the components of language and literacy-related activities as they wish, and how the teachers can make use of this color comprehension and color categories to integrate a multi-sensory approach to benefit all students, not just those with special needs.

A multisensory approach to spatial updating: the case of mental rotations

Mental rotation is the capacity to predict the outcome of spatial relationships after a change in viewpoint. These changes arise either from the rotation of the test object array or from the rotation of the observer. Previous studies showed that the cognitive cost of mental rotations is reduced when viewpoint changes result from the observer’s motion, which was explained by the spatial updating mechanism involved during self-motion. However, little is known about how various sensory cues available might contribute to the updating performance. We used a Virtual Reality setup in a series of experiments to investigate table-top mental rotations under different combinations of modalities among vision, body and audition. We found that mental rotation performance gradually improved when adding sensory cues to the moving observer (from None to Body or Vision and then to Body & Audition or Body & Vision), but that the processing time drops to the same level for any of the sensory contexts. These results are discussed in terms of an additive contribution when sensory modalities are co-activated to the spatial updating mechanism involved during self-motion. Interestingly, this multisensory approach can account for different findings reported in the literature.

The Aroma of Recollection: Olfaction, Nostalgia, and the Shaping of the Sensuous Self

ABSTRACTThis study examines olfactory perception and nostalgic memories focusing on sense acts and the sensuous self as a dialectic of ritual sensations and sense-making rituals. Our data are drawn from a convenience sample of twenty-three participants who reflected on their olfactory experiences through the use of research journals. Our analysis illustrates how olfactory perceptions and memories are necessarily produced by active “idealizing activity” that is emergent in sensuous rituals that help maintain self continuity over time. Our focus on olfaction—at the expense of a more multisensory approach focusing on, say, taste and olfaction—contributes to a very small body of sociological (but also a larger body of anthropological) literature on this important but much neglected medium of perception.

Investigating the Use of 3D Graphics, Haptics (Touch), and Sound for Highway Location Planning

Planning of transportation infrastructure requires analyzing combinations of many different types of geospatial information (maps). Conventional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or Computer Aided Design systems limit the planner's ability to perceive and effectively use multiple data layers together. To improve the planner's ability to interact with multiple layers of disparate spatial information, this article presents a novel computer system, which combines vision with haptics (touch) and sound. In this new form of Multi-Sensory Information System (MSIS), visual information is augmented by a 3-D haptic device (PHANToM) and by sound (sonification). In a recent study, it was investigated how engineering students used this multi-sensory GIS for planning the location (the alignment) of a new road. The results indicate that certain forms of vision, haptics, and audio were used preferentially to represent certain types of spatial data. A generalization of such a multi-sensory approach could provide researchers with the basis for further development and, eventually, the augmentation of established procedures with the MSIS in highway location planning and related areas.

Cognitive Versus Multisensory Approaches to Handwriting Intervention: a Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of cognitive versus multisensory interventions on handwriting legibility of elementary school students referred to occupational therapy for handwriting difficulties. In this randomized controlled trial, 72 first- and second-grade students were assigned to either a cognitive intervention, multisensory intervention, or control (no intervention) group. Letter legibility was measured using the Evaluation Tool for Children's Handwriting before and after 10 weeks of intervention. Analysis of variance of change scores showed no statistically significant difference across the three groups. First-grade students improved with or without intervention, but second-grade students showed sizeable improvement with cognitive intervention compared to multisensory intervention (d = 1.09) or no intervention (d = .92). These results challenge current occupational therapy practice of using a multisensory approach for remediation of handwriting difficulties for students in second grade. A cognitive approach to handwriting intervention shows greater promise and is worthy of further investigation.

Literacy with parents for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties

This paper aims to explore the issue of literacy for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). A group of parents met for six sessions with the authors and discussed how literacy could be applied to their children in the homes. A multi-sensory approach was discussed and experimented with using various texts mentioned in the article. This paper deals with three main ideas, namely challenging parental constructions about their children and about literacy and story-telling; the possible therapeutic role of such a process and its ensuing influence on parents’ roles as advocates for their children; and the idea of experimenting with stories and practices using the senses. In conclusion, the relevance of the above for practising educational psychologists is highlighted.

Cognitive versus Multisensory Approaches to Handwriting Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of cognitive versus multisensory interventions on handwriting legibility of elementary school students referred to occupational therapy for handwriting difficulties. In this randomized controlled trial, 72 first- and second-grade students were assigned to either a cognitive intervention, multisensory intervention, or control (no intervention) group. Letter legibility was measured using the Evaluation Tool for Children's Handwriting before and after 10 weeks of intervention. Analysis of variance of change scores showed no statistically significant difference across the three groups. First-grade students improved with or without intervention, but second-grade students showed sizeable improvement with cognitive intervention compared to multisensory intervention ( d = 1.09) or no intervention ( d = .92). These results challenge current occupational therapy practice of using a multisensory approach for remediation of handwriting difficulties for students in second grade. A cognitive approach to handwriting intervention shows greater promise and is worthy of further investigation.

Sensory Shifts and ‘Synaesthetics’ in Sukuma Healing

Sensorial anthropologies come, broadly speaking, in two forms. The first, multi-sensory approach depicts cultures as specializing in a sensory mode such as tactility (Howes) or kinaesthesia (Geurts) and associates individual cultures with one dominant mode. The second, cross-sensory approach rejects this sensorial essentialization (Ingold) and suggests that cultures differ in their ‘perspectives’ or, as I suggest, in sensory ‘codes’. However, the article argues that this latter approach verges on cultural essentialization as it overlooks the presence in any one culture of multiple sensory ‘codes’ and culturally warranted shifts between them. In this article on the Sukuma in northwestern Tanzania I outline an approach that takes into account both the modes and codes of sensory perception. I focus on the visual mode, and shifts between different codes, in Sukuma rituals of divination, exorcism and spirit possession.

The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy Skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study

The ways in which parent-child interactions can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills in young children remains to be fully explored. The present report describes how one parent scaffolded her young child’s emergent writing and letter knowledge in the home. Environmental print provided many rich and meaningful examples for the parent to show that print conveys meaning and is constructed with letters that have names and make sounds. The parent used idiomorphs, a multisensory approach incorporating the tracing of letters and whole body movements, and common household objects to guide the child’s learning of letter names, sounds, and shapes. Emergent writing skills were scaffolded by using directional language and by the child copying environmental print. The strategies and examples that are described may give guidance to parents and teachers on how to provide engaging opportunities for literacy learning in the home environment or in an early educational context.

Tailoring leisure to suit a wider audience through creative event planning with a multi-sensory approach

Caregiving for long-term conditions is increasingly focused on holistic "person centred" care [9,34], with leisure and recreation providing an important and essential part of maintaining quality of life. This article documents examples of large leisure events and creative projects. These were adapted for, and considered to be suitable and supportive of, the needs of adults with complex and profound disability as a result of neurological damage or disease. The ways in which events have been tailored by the Recreation and Leisure Service, incorporating sensory elements with the view to increased accessibility and enjoyment for participants, are highlighted in this article. The ultimate challenge faced was programming events to suit more than 170 people aged over 18 who each have particular preferences, varied interests and abilities including the most profound physical and cognitive impairments. These developments and changes in format have encouraged essential input from participants themselves and their families and carers, whilst involving the wider community; volunteers, external charitable groups and professional organisations.