Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with many systemic comorbidities, including sensory dysfunctions. A growing body of literature explored patients' unusually intense reactions to innocuous sensory stimuli but very little is known about ASD patients' response to noxious stimuli such as pain. Patients with…

Models of self-regulated learning emphasize the active and intentional role of learners and, thereby, focus mainly on conscious processes in working memory and long-term memory. Cognitive load theory supports this view on learning. As a result, both fields of research ignore the potential role of unconscious processes for learning. In this review…

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global, collective, traumatic experience. Trauma-aware museum educators can play a therapeutic role in helping visitors reengage with life as the world reopens. This article explores the dynamics of what a trauma-aware approach to engaging with art may be, specifically detailing methods that can create new cognitive,…

This article describes an approach to descriptive writing, via the senses, as a way to promote both being present in the moment and creating vivid and evocative writing. It is important to note that this approach focuses on writing, not mindfulness or meditation training directly. However, in doing these sensory-based exercises, students learn to…

Music is a way of representing the patterns of frequencies and vibrational relationships--and at St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, it is used it to promote language learning and transform students' educational experiences. Traditionally defined through the medium of sound, music has been seen as an approach that excludes deaf and hard of…

Educational research regularly claims, with lots of evidence, that humans learn from experience. However, experience is composed of outer and inner sensations. Thus, if humans learn from experience, we would expect that educational research would be replete with work on sensation. Yet sensation in the wild, outside laboratory studies, plays no…

The psychological and cognitive impacts of COVID-19 on children are still unfolding; however, several researchers have noted negative effects of quarantine on youth (Orgilés et al., 2020) and parents (Fontanesi et al., 2020). The abrupt departure from preschool due to social distancing and potential family disharmony associated with financial and…

Theoretical approaches within the cognitive-interactionist framework (Long, 2015) have identified various aspects of L2 input and characteristics of instruction that predict learners' L2 outcomes. Such strategies of L2 teaching relate to shaping characteristics of communicative activities in which the L2 is embedded and modifying L2 input, L2…

Many edusemiotic writers have begun to closely align edusemitoics to biosemiotics; the basic logic being that, if the life process can be defined through the criterion of semiotic engagement, so can the learning process (Stables in J Curr Stud 38(4):373-387, 2006). Thus, the ecological concept of umwelt has come to be a central area of…

Multi-exceptional children often have deficits in auditory, visual, or sensory processing. As few psychologists have training in modalities, these deficits may be misdiagnosed as AD/HD, Nonverbal Learning Disorder, Autism, Dyslexia, or a host of personality disorders. This article describes the symptoms of these processing deficits and offers…

Education researchers have traditionally understood video as a useful tool for collecting and analyzing data in order to study a vast array of learning ecologies. However, video scholarship in fields outside of education, namely anthropology and sociology, have been able to put video to greater use by conducting studies that take advantage of the…

Color. Carpets. Configurations. The classroom can create a sense of safety, calm, and invitation to learn if designed correctly. Authors and educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Dominique Smith describe their journey to making their school's classrooms trauma-informed and safe, inviting spaces for students.

Maria Montessori developed an educational program during the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays, the Montessori method (MM) is considered one of the main alternatives to teacher-paced conventional preschool education. This review aims to open a dialogue between the MM and current understanding of neurodevelopment. Four conceptual pillars of…

Courses: Public Speaking, Communication Research Methods. Objectives: The purpose of this assignment is to (1) develop observation ability by drawing from sensory information, (2) practice using descriptive language, and (3) critique verbal delivery.

Preliminary evidence suggests that sensory processing may be affected in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this letter is to highlight a few recent studies on the topic and tie the findings to a recently identified epidemiological risk factor for ASD, principally environmental exposure to the air pollutant, nitrous oxide (N[subscript…