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The Seven Senses

Part 3: Touch

Scoggin, K., Christianson, K., Cooper, H., Lauger, K., Knapp, M., Peterson, D. (2014)

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Touch is…

our first language

our most social sense

It provides a fundamental means of contact with the world.

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Interpersonal touch plays an important role in our emotional well-being.

In the video, Vivecca describes how giving her son Christopher a massage helps him relax and strengthens the bond between them.

Transcript

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The skin…

is the largest organ in the human body
is part of an active and informative system for perceiving sensations such as painful stimuli, temperature, vibration, and pressure
is part of the basis for body image
provides body boundaries

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�For students who are deaf-blind, touch is an essential part of communicating and learning.�

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The video shows an intervener using touch to a help a student self-regulate and communicate.

Transcript and Audio Description

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What did you think of this video?

How did the intervener use touch as part of her interaction with the student?
How did she incorporate his preferences about touch into the learning activity?
What types of touch does your student need or prefer?

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Emotions and Touch

There is a strong connection between our emotions and touch.
Emotions can be powerful motivators that encourage learning through touch (tactile learning).

On the next slide you’ll see a video of another student. Watch how the teacher uses touch the student enjoys to promote learning.

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Deanna incorporates touch into teaching Cameron.

Transcript and Audio Description

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Using Touch With Other Senses

Touch can be used in combination with other senses to support learning.

In this video, an intervener works with a student to use both his vision and the sense of touch to learn the concept "up."

Transcript and Audio Description

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Learning activities often make use of more than one sense.

Let’s watch a student in a learning activity that combines the use of several senses.

In the video on the next slide, Kersten works with her garden.

Look at how she uses her vision, hearing, touch (and probably smell, too) to orient herself and to plan, communicate about, and complete her task.

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Kersten planning and working in her "garden". Note her senses working together.

Transcript and Audio Description

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OHOA Deaf-Blind Intervener Learning Modules

A national resource designed to increase awareness, knowledge, and skills related to the process of intervention for students who are deaf-blind. Developed by National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness.

For more information, contact NCDB at

info@nationaldb.org.

The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education #H326T130013. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the The Research Institute, nor the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officer, Jo Ann McCann.