The linguistic abilities of three adult deaf-blind subjects who acquired language through the Tadoma method (involves monitoring a speaker's articulatory motions by placing a hand on his face) were examined. The subjects' English language abilities were excellent, suggesting that the tactile sense is adequate in highly trained Tadoma users in…

This article presents a model for the motion of a long-cane executing the touch technique and presents formulas for the projected length of a cane adequate to protect an individual with blindness against wall-type and pole-type hazards. The paper concludes that the long-cane should reach from the floor to the user's armpit. (JDD)

Research has suggested that perception and action are independent (see M. A. Goodale & A. Haffenden, 1998). The authors used the Ebbinghaus illusion to test this hypothesis in 2 experiments. Verbal reports of perceived size were compared with maximum grip aperture during grasping (Experiment 1) and manual reports of perceived size (Experiment 2).…

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of "hands-on" instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch…

A battery of assessments to determine the potential contribution of tactual aids to the acoustic perception and speech identification of young deaf children was developed. The tasks were developed so that they could be implemented with standard audiometric equipment and applied to subjects of varying age and to different types of tactual aids.…

We investigate how vision affects haptic performance when task-relevant visual cues are reduced or excluded. The task was to remember the spatial location of six landmarks that were explored by touch in a tactile map. Here, we use specially designed spectacles that simulate residual peripheral vision, tunnel vision, diffuse light perception, and…

A sequential-touching task was used to investigate whether 14-month-old infants can rapidly change how they categorize a set of objects, recognizing new groupings of objects they had previously categorized in a different way. When presented with a collection of objects that could be categorized by shape (balls vs. blocks) or material (soft vs.…

Schools should probably spend more time developing student awareness of learning styles than pushing teachers into more inservice workshops on adapting curriculum. The Learning Channel Preference Checklist included in this article allows students to assess their own preferred learning style(s) by choosing statements stressing visual, auditory, or…

This article considers the touching, or rather, not touching, of children and young people in professional settings. Some have argued that many schools and other childcare environments are becoming "no touch" zones. Formal guidelines in the UK are centrally concerned with "child protection" issues, and "force and…

A study compared the effectiveness of two methods of teaching clinical breast examination: standardized teaching from family medicine faculty or well women teachers (n=54 first-year students) and unstandardized teaching during clinical rotations (n=70 second-year students). The standardized-teaching group had more consistent techniques, higher…

Discusses the different types of learning disabilities (visual, auditory, motor, tactile, academic), types of accommodations needed for each disability, and hints for supervisors. These suggestions include practicing patience, being direct and specific, explaining inappropriate behavior, being understanding but firm, and being especially thorough…

This article reviews recent research on perception of tangible pictures in sighted and blind people. Haptic picture naming accuracy is dependent upon familiarity and access to semantic memory, just as in visual recognition. Performance is high when haptic picture recognition tasks do not depend upon semantic memory. Viewpoint matters for the ease…

For the dyslexic and others with similar problems, a revision of the sequence of modalities known as VAKT (for visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile) might achieve more effective and more rapid remediation. The new sequence is designated as TAK/v. The subordination of the visual modality is based on the recent identification of visual processing…

This article discusses only the perceptual modality, or sensory-intake styles of learning, and the implications for adult education. In addition, several techniques that the practitioner can utilize to assist in helping adult learners identify their learning style(s) are presented. (CT)

Various counting tasks were presented to 24 congenitally, totally blind children, aged 3-13, to determine the behaviors employed to ensure accurate counting. Three dimensions of tactile strategies were found, including "scanning,""organizing," and "partitioning." A developmental progression in the ontogenesis of each…