Multisensory Approach Research Articles

Motor Development and Movement Activities for Preschoolers and Infants with Delays: A Multisensory Approach for Professionals and Families, 2nd Ed.

Motor Development and Movement Activities for Preschoolers and Infants with Delays: A Multisensory Approach for Professionals and Families, 2nd Ed.

Multi-sensory, Data Fusion Detection System for Improved Situational Awareness

A multi-sensory approach is being used to develop new detection capabilities for improved damage assessment and real-time situational awareness. The detection system combines surveillance camera video images with selected spectral and acoustic signatures and image recognition technologies to provide a broad range of situational awareness. Various spectral and acoustic signatures, new video imaging techniques, and image recognition methods have been investigated and integrated into a multi-sensory prototype system. The prototype system is able to detect event signatures within the volume of a space (i.e., a "volume sensor") rather than relying on spot-type fire detectors. Two prototype systems were built and assessed in full-scale testing aboard the ex-USS Shadwell side-by-side with two commercial video image fire detection systems and several spot-type fire detection systems. Tests included a wide range of fire and nuisance sources, plus flooding and pipe rupture scenarios under actual shipboard background conditions. The prototype systems are shown to outperform the commercial fire detection systems for flaming and smoldering fires with a high level of nuisance immunity. In addition, they successfully detected the pipe ruptures and flooding scenarios. The system can be adapted for homeland security.

Engaging the Spiritual Intelligence of Gifted Students to Build Global Awareness in the Classroom

Spiritual intelligence—using a multisensory approach to access one's inner knowledge to solve global problems—can be an integrating theme to engage gifted students in building global awareness in the classroom. This article introduces individuals providing training in higher consciousness and presents examples of strategies to further develop the spiritual intelligence of gifted students, such as exploring existential questions, service-learning, and moral dilemmas. A residential program for secondary gifted students provides an example of engaging the spiritual intelligence of gifted students to build global awareness.

3D reconstruction of road surfaces using an integrated multi-sensory approach

In this paper, we present our experience in building a mobile imaging system that incorporates multi-modality sensors for road surface mapping and inspection applications. Our proposed system leverages 3D laser-range sensors, video cameras, global positioning systems (GPS) and inertial measurement units (IMU) towards the generation of photo-realistic, geometrically accurate, geo-referenced 3D models of road surfaces. Based on our summary of the state-of-the-art systems for a road distress survey, we identify several challenges in the real-time deployment, integration and visualization of the multi-sensor data. Then, we present our data acquisition and processing algorithms as a novel two-stage automation procedure that can meet the accuracy requirements with real-time performance. We provide algorithms for 3D surface reconstruction to process the raw data and deliver detail preserving 3D models that possess accurate depth information for characterization and visualization of cracks as a significant improvement over contemporary commercial video-based vision systems.

Enjoying languages

A multi-sensory approach is an excellent way of introducing children to language lessons and is both fun and stimulating. Valerie Nicholls provides a number of easy-to-follow practical ideas.

A Study of Intonation Awareness and Learning in Non-native Speakers of English

Learning the intonation of a foreign language entails complex perceptive and productive processes mostly beyond the common awareness level. Its instruction demands a thorough understanding of its prosodic features and the appropriate pedagogical practices and resources. This paper reports the findings from a computer-assisted study of the learning of English intonation by Spanish learners. The purpose of this experiment is twofold: (1) To investigate the effects of a multi-sensory approach on the learners’ awareness of the form and meaning of intonation in speech; and (2) to determine the extent to which this approach would generalise to improvement in the prosodic features of controlled and spontaneous utterances. The study employed a pretest/post-test design with two groups of Spanish learners: an experimental (N = 10) and a control group (N = 10). The learners’ pre- and post-test recordings were acoustically analysed and assessed by four native speakers of English. A final learner-questionnaire followed the training. The results reveal a gain in intonation awareness and significant improvement in the prosodic performance of the experimental group.

Perceptual exploration and intersensory merging in a visual–haptic Necker cube

Perceiving the three-dimensional structure of an object often involves merging vision and haptics over extended periods of exploration. An interesting feature of this process is that as exploration progresses, new information may require changing how the two sensory signals are treated. We tested whether (1) bimodal interactions during extended observation can adjust to changes in the quality of unimodal sensory signals; and (2) there are specific temporal constraints on these adjustments. When viewing a three-dimensional Necker cube with one eye, participants experience illusory reversals even while they feel the cube with their hands. This surprising property makes the visual–haptic Necker cube an excellent model to investigate bimodal processes when previously consistent bimodal signals change in quality over time or begin to conflict. Our participants reported reversals while they viewed the cube and, at the same time, they either held it with two-finger grips, felt it with while their hands remained stationary, or actively explored it by moving one hand. Consistent with a multisensory approach to three-dimensional form perception, touch had a clear effect on both the number and the duration of illusory percepts. Additionally, when observers alternated between stationary and moving periods during exploration, transitions from stationary to moving-hand haptics played a crucial role in inhibiting illusory reversals. A temporal analysis of the probability of first reversals occurring after different types of motor transition revealed a “vetoing window” initiating approximately 2 s after the transition and lasting at least another 1–2 s. These results suggest that intersensory merging is sensitive to changes in the quality of unimodal signals during exploration, and that adjustments caused by these changes are characterized by specific temporal dynamics.

Volume sensor for damage assessment and situational awareness

A multi-sensory approach is being used to develop new detection capabilities for improved damage assessment and real-time situational awareness. As part of the Advanced Damage Countermeasures (ADC) program, the US Navy seeks to develop and demonstrate improved damage control capabilities that will be incorporated into new ship designs. This work represents the progress in the fourth year of a multi-year program to identify, evaluate, and adapt video image detection technologies for shipboard damage control. Various spectral and acoustic signatures, new video imaging techniques, and image recognition methods have been investigated and integrated into a multi-sensory prototype system that is able to detect event signatures within the volume of a space (i.e., a “volume sensor”) rather than relying on spot-type fire detectors. The prototype systems were shown to outperform the commercial systems for flaming and smoldering fires with a high immunity to nuisance sources. In addition, the prototypes accurately identified pipe ruptures and flooding events.

A visual–haptic Necker cube reveals temporal constraints on intersensory merging during perceptual exploration

When viewing a three-dimensional Necker cube with one eye, participants can experience illusory reversals even while they feel the cube with their hands. This surprising property of the visual–haptic Necker cube affords a unique opportunity to investigate temporal constraints on interactions between vision and touch during extended observation of a three-dimensional object. Our observers reported reversals while they viewed the cube and, at the same time, they either held it with two-finger grips, felt it with while their hands remained stationary, or actively explored it by moving one hand. Consistent with a multisensory approach to three-dimensional form perception, touch had a clear effect on both the number and the duration of illusory percepts. Additionally, when observers alternated between stationary and moving periods during exploration, transitions from stationary to moving-hand haptics played a crucial role in inhibiting illusory reversals. A temporal analysis of the probability of first reversals occurring after different types of motor transition revealed a “vetoing window” initiating approximately 2 s after the transition and lasting at least another 1–2 s. Implications for multisensory processes during exploration are discussed.

The Fire Fox: a multi-sensory approach to art education in Lapland

This article explores ways in which art education in northern border areas and remote rural districts empowers action. The main emphasis is on an integrated art and science project called the ‘The Fire Fox’ that took place in Finnish Lapland, Utsjoki, in March 2004. The project aims were to extend art into the wider community, develop individual creativity, raise the quality of artistic achievement, strengthen self-esteem and foster shared understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds. The article reports on a series of multidisciplinary arts workshops where the majority of artworks were made of snow and ice and tied to a particular time and place. There were several organizations involved in the Fire Fox project. This article evaluates the project and takes into account the specific educational needs of the school, other local parties, participants from outside the Utsjoki municipality and the art students from the University of Lapland. The article concludes that the Fire Fox project provided support for local identities as well as facilitating the development of art-based social innovations inspired by northern culture.

Neurological Impress Method PLUS

The purpose of these two studies was to redirect interest to the Neurological Impress Method, a multisensory approach to reading instruction that occurs between a teacher and a student, which has been largely forgotten in mainstream and special education circles over the past decades. In addition to its emphasis on oral reading, we included a comprehension component that we call the plus (+) to NIM Plus. In our first study, third through sixth-grade below-level readers in a San Diego county school participated in NIM tutoring. On each of the three measures—oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, and comprehension—students performed statistically better after the five-week (3.3 hours) NIM training than they had at the beginning of the training. In oral reading fluency, the students' scores significantly increased from an average of 96.7 words correct per minute to 112 words correct per minute (p < .0001). In silent reading fluency measure, students' scores increased from an average of 132 words per minute to 154 words per minute (p < .002). On the comprehension assessment, students' scores increased from an average of 3.2 questions correct to 4.5 correct (p < .001). In our second study, which was conducted in an urban San Diego school, similar results were found; the students scored significantly higher on all three measures. In this second study, however, we focused on “glimpses” into the reasons why NIM Plus was so effective. The tutors who provided the NIM Plus training reported that NIM Plus helped both teacher and student to focus on prior knowledge, making connections between and among texts and the world, and overall construction of comprehension. Our findings support the idea that the NIM Plus is adaptable and that it requires further investigation, in experimental settings, as well as in schools and clinics.

Effects of Traditional Versus Learning-Styles Instructional Methods on Middle School Students

The author examined the effects of teaching through traditional versus learning-style instructional methods on an urban sample of 105 heterogeneously grouped 7th-grade students' achievement, attitudes, empathic tendencies, and transfer skills in response to lessons on the Holocaust. Dependent variables for this investigation were gain scores on achievement and empathy posttests, scores on an attitudinal survey, and weighted average scores obtained from transfer tasks. The independent variable was the instructional method. The author administered the Learning Style Inventory (R. Dunn, K. Dunn, & G. E. Price, 2000) to determine learning-style preferences. The control group was taught about the Holocaust with a traditional teaching method (lecture, group discussion, visual resources), and the experimental group was taught the same content with the Multisensory Instructional Package (R. Dunn & K. Dunn, 1992). The data that was subjected to statistical analyses supported the implementation of a multisensory rather than a traditional approach for teaching lessons concerned with emotionally charged events. The t tests revealed a positive and statistically significant impact on achievement test scores (p > .001). When students were taught through a multisensory approach, gain scores on the empathy scale revealed significance (p > .001). Furthermore, students indicated significantly more positive attitudes when instructed with a multisensory rather than a traditional approach (p > .001), and performance was higher (p > .001) on the transfer of skills when students were instructed with a multisensory instructional method rather than with a traditional approach. Large to resounding effect sizes were revealed for each of the dependent variables.

Speaking of Art as Embodied Imagination: A Multisensory Approach to Understanding Aesthetic Experience

This article focuses on somatic experience—not just the process of thinking bodily but how the body informs the logic of thinking about art. We examine the links between embodiment, movement, and multisensory experience insofar as they help to elucidate the contours of art appreciation in a museum. We argue that embodiment can be identified at two levels: the phenomenological and the cognitive unconscious. At the first level, individuals are conscious of their feelings and actions while, at the second level, sensorimotor and other bodily oriented inference mechanisms inform their processes of abstract thought and reasoning. We analyze the consumption stories of 30 museum goers in order to understand how people move through museum spaces and feel, touch, hear, smell, and taste art. Further, through an analysis of metaphors and the use of conceptual blending, we tap into the participants’ unconscious minds, gleaning important embodiment processes that shape their reasoning.

Structured Teaching for individuals with visual impairments

'Structured Teaching', as advocated by the TEACCH approach (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren) is widely used to promote independence and facilitate teaching and learning for individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). Key principles underpinning the approach include assessment and individualisation. As a result Structured Teaching is a flexible approach which can be adapted to meet a variety of individual needs, regardless of the age or cognitive ability of the learner. The components of Structured Teaching, physical structure, schedules, work systems and visual structure, combine to provide structure that is tailor-made for the individual. For those with sensory impairments, assessment of preferred sensory modalities enables us to develop a 'multi-sensory approach to Structured Teaching'. This paper reflects upon acknowledged practice of the approach for individuals with ASD and its potential use for those with a visual impairment, with the intention of stimulating further discussion.

Multisensory approach to handwriting remediation: perceptions of school-based occupational therapists.

The purpose of this study was to describe the current practices of school-based occupational therapists regarding their use of multisensory modalities and activities in handwriting remediation. A survey was sent to 313 school-based occupational therapist members of the American Occupational Therapy Association who identified themselves as working in a school system as their primary employment setting. Of these, 198 surveys were returned and analyzed descriptively, resulting in a response rate of 63.3%. More than 130 different multisensory modalities and activities were documented. Twenty-five of these had previously been reported in the literature, the other 114 were documented, by respondents, within the "other" category. Most respondents reported using 5 or more modalities and activities per student, the most frequent being chalk and chalkboard. No consensus among respondents is apparent about the primary sensory systems stimulated by the modalities and activities. No difference in modality and activity use was found on the basis of demographic variables. Overall findings indicate that the breadth of modalities and activities being used is far greater than that currently found in the literature. The results suggest a need for completing studies designed to examine the use and effectiveness of multisensory modalities and activities in handwriting remediation.

Dyslexia and the learning of a foreign language in school: where are we going?

The difficulties which many dyslexic students encounter in the learning of the English language often extend to the learning of a foreign language in school. Although this problem has been acknowledged for some time, and although the learning of a modern foreign language is a core element in the Scottish curriculum, there has been little research into how modern languages can be presented to offer the best learning opportunities to dyslexic students. Dyslexic students are likely to benefit from a multisensory approach to the learning of a modern foreign language, and it seems likely that they will need to utilize similar strategies to those used for learning their first language. Strategies are discussed with a view to making modern language learning more appropriate for students with difficulties in learning.

The multi-sensory approach to the optometric management of children with specific learning difficulties (such as dyslexia and dyspraxia)

In the 1920's Skeffington portrayed vision as a product of the interaction of four component subprocesses. These sub-processes were depicted as four overlapping intertwined circles, with vision emerging as a product of their interaction. The circles represent the antigravity system, centring, identification and speech auditory processes. He postulated that if any of these sub-processes fails to develop correctly, the emergent vision will be affected. In children with specific learning difficulties these sub-processes can be affected to different degrees. So as well as the more well documented problems with tracking eye movements, convergence insufficiency, reduced fusional reserves and accommodative facility, all of which can be improved with specific exercises, attention should also be given to multisensory exercises. Visual space is a varying mix of central and peripheral vision. The attention given to each will vary with visual task, and also from person to person. For best visual performance the correct balance between the two systems is required. If a person is too centrally oriented they tend to be very “focal” in their behavior, ignoring peripheral stimuli and paying too much attention to detail and tend to process sequentially. In contrast the peripherally biased person has poor concentration, jumps from one thing to the other and is easily distracted by peripheral stimuli; a particular problem in a busy classroom environment. The types of problems commonly found in youngsters with specific learning difficulties will be presented, with the emphasis on a multisensory exercise programme specifically designed to improve these problems.

The Richness That Surrounds Us: Collaboration of Classroom and Community for Art Therapy and Art Education

This article discusses common pathways of art therapy and art education and the use of community resources, specifically art museums, to enrich course content of “Art for Special Populations,” a course developed by Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in partnership with the St. Louis Art Museum. In a stimulating variety of museum gallery settings, participants in this course used art materials, ethnic music, and dance to develop treatment plans using a multisensory approach to art therapy for children with special needs.

Could a multisensory approach achieve improved outcomes?

Could a multisensory approach achieve improved outcomes?

A case study of a child with severe dyspraxia and reading difficulties

This case study describes the work undertaken with a child who has severe dyspraxia and literacy problems. The support teacher and speech and language therapist worked together to enable the pupil to acquire greater phonological awareness by means of a multisensory approach, in which great emphasis was placed upon the link between the written and the spoken word.