Title: Teaching strategies of the van Dijk curricular approach. By: MacFarland, S.Z.C., Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 0145482X, May/Jun95, Vol. 89, Issue 3 TEACHING STRATEGIES OF THE VAN DIJK CURRICULAR APPROACH

Contents

1. Background 2. The theory 3. Instructional strategies 4. RESONANCE PHENOMENON STRATEGIES 5. COACTIVE MOVEMENT SEQUENCE STRATEGIES 6. COACTIVE MANIPULATION 7. REPRESENTATIONAL REFERENCE STRATEGIES 8. DISTANCING 9. IMITATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES 10. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR DRAWING 11. VIBRATIONAL-SOUND-INDUCED STRATEGIES 12. DISCRIMINATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES 13. CHARACTERIZING STRATEGIES 14. SEQUENTIAL MEMORY STRATEGIES 15. CONVERSATIONAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES 16. ANTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES 17. SYMBOLIC COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES 18. Conclusion 19. References

Abstract: The combined loss of vision and hearing affects the learning areas of communication, socialization, conceptualization, and movement. The van Dijk curricular approach addresses these learning areas within the context of teaching children who are deaf-blind. This article presents the major teaching strategies in implementing the approach.

Teachers who have students who are deaf-blind need educational guidelines regarding how individuals with a combined visual and hearing loss may learn. They need to understand sensory deprivation and its effects on each individual's self-concept, communication, and overall learning and to learn teaching strategies that address alternate and augmentative ways of communicating and learning. The van Dijk curricular approach for individuals who are deaf-blind is an approach that addresses all these factors.

This article presents a brief description of the van Dijk approach, the theory underlying the approach, guidelines for implementing the major instructional strategies, and recommendations for how teachers may get started in using the approach. Background

The van Dijk approach was developed by Jan van Dijk, a renowned educator of individuals who are deaf-blind, along with fellow staff members of the Instituut voor Doven in Sint Michielsgestel, The Netherlands. The approach was developed after van Dijk had spent many years teaching children who are deaf-blind during which he "became very aware of the unique status of the child who is deprived of hearing and sight from birth" (van Dijk, 1986, p. 374). Although the term deaf-blindness often connotes total visual and hearing loss, van Dijk understood that children who are deaf-blind are an extremely heterogeneous group with different degrees of visual and hearing losses and took this fact into consideration in developing his approach.

Originally, the approach was developed to meet the learning needs of children who became deaf- blind from the rubella epidemic in the mid-1960s and did not address students who are deaf- blind and severely physically or mentally retarded. However, as the deaf-blind population changed and included both individuals who are deaf-blind with no intellectual impairments, as well as many with cognitive delays and/or physical disabilities that interfere with learning (Baldwin, 1993; Downing, 1993), the approach was adapted to meet the needs of a wide range of children who are deaf-blind.

The van Dijk curricular approach is an integrated approach that is intended to be implemented throughout the student's daily program. The approach is theoretically driven and has four child- outcome characteristics that organize the 14 instructional strategies (MacFarland, 1994). The four child-outcome characteristics are the development of 1) initial attachment and security, 2) near (touch, smell, and taste) and distance (hearing and vision) senses in relation to the world, 3) the ability to structure the world, and 4) natural communication systems.

The theory

In his 1967 study, van Dijk explained the assumptions, concepts, and principles that organize his educational theory, which was formulated primarily on the basis of Werner and Kaplan's (1963) conception of the normal child's development of representational and symbolic abilities (see also Stillman & Battle, 1984; Writer, 1987). Furthermore, van Dijk incorporated van Uden's (1977) concepts of the deaf child's development of language (van Dijk, 1967, 1983) and Bowlby's (1973) and Ainsworth, Bell, and Stayton's (1974) concepts of the development of attachment and socialization.

Van Dijk rationalized how children with severe dual sensory impairments initially may learn about the world and, ultimately, understand the world through meaningful interactions with people and things in their environment (van Dijk, 1967, 1986; see also Kratz, Tutt, & Black, 1987). The major principles of his theory address sensory deprivation, integration of sensory information, concept formation, attachment and security, progressive distancing from concrete to more symbolic concepts, organizing and structuring the world, anticipatory learning, natural symbol development, pragmatic communication, and symbolic language. According to van Dijk's educational theory, there is a developmental interrelationship between the neurological state of the child with the dual sensory losses and external influences of the child's environment. This interrelationship can lead the child out of the closed, limited world of self-stimulation into a more open world of meaningful interactions.

Instructional strategies

The 14 instructional strategies are the teacher-applied methods that relate to van Dijk's theoretical principles. In this section, the central focus of each strategy is described, but the presentation is not meant to suggest a hierarchy of implementation, since many of the strategies are taught concurrently with other strategies. The majority of the instructional strategies are based on the work of Jurgens (1977) and supported by the works of van Dijk (1967,1983,1986).

RESONANCE PHENOMENON STRATEGIES

These strategies initially take place at a preconscious level (reflexive reactions to stimuli and a reverberation of physical, vocal, and/or affective behaviors). They involve close physical contact or near proximity between the teacher and the student and are based on what the student communicates through gross and fine body movements (for instance, rocking, clapping, and finger tapping) or through movements involving objects (for example, rolling a ball or a car or bouncing on a trampoline). For the child who is deaf-blind and physically disabled, the movements (such as head turning, body tensing, or respiration) may be fine or subtle.

The teacher follows or joins in the child's behavior and begins to lay the foundation for turn- taking interactions involving communicative starting and stopping cues indicated by the child or teacher, with the goal of developing rapport and trust with the student. For example, a child is banging on a drum with her hands, and the teacher joins in by banging on the drum with her hands in a similar manner. The child stops; the teacher stops. The child begins, even with only a slight lift of a finger or twitch of the arm, and the teacher begins drumming again.

COACTIVE MOVEMENT SEQUENCE STRATEGIES

These strategies are similar to and an extension of resonance strategies. The major difference is that the student demonstrates purposeful signals to request continuation of the turntaking act with the teacher (see Box 1). The movements are expanded to chains through the sequencing of two or more movements in a defined functional learning context that have obvious starting and stopping points. Once a motor-patterned sequence is learned, change must be planned to add variety, continued complexity and distancing, and anticipation.

The chain may be a task sequence (such as steps in dressing, cooking, or making a bed) or a physical education activity (such as a motor routine that the student completes in designated rounds). For instance, if the coactive movement chain was brushing teeth and the student had many opportunities to perform this activity, a step in the chain could be educationally changed to arouse a communicative signal from the student (a familiar tube of toothpaste could be replaced with a pump toothpaste container). The student might grasp the new toothpaste and then immediately drop it. The teacher could communicatively acknowledge the student's recognition that this "thing" is different by coactively holding the new toothpaste container and tactiley showing how it is different and how it works. The teacher should be aware that many spontaneous and natural opportunities for change arise during coactive movement sequences that can be "educationally captured" for the student's benefit.

COACTIVE MANIPULATION

This teaching strategy is frequently used with students who are deaf-blind and is often combined with many other instructional strategies. It involves hand-over-hand or hand-under-hand (teacher's hand is under student's hand) instruction and guidance that may be necessary during the students' daily educational programming and living routines. The hand-under-hand strategy is often less intrusive for students because the student is in more control. Coactive manipulation should be systematically decreased as the student gains more control and understanding of his or her daily activities.

REPRESENTATIONAL REFERENCE STRATEGIES

These strategies are an essential part of the development of symbols and often occur with coactive movement sequences and manipulation. The student and partner encounter a common thing (inanimate or animate) without actually having a referent (a name) for it. They find communicative sense in the thing; together, they "look" at it and may touch it or point to it. This act of "reference" is mainly social and is a prerequisite to the formation of symbols.

Activities are developed in structured daily settings, such as during the student's grooming and dressing times, when representational reference strategies are used to help the student understand his or her body image or during a learning task in which specific attributes of the task are referenced. Activities can also be spontaneously developed during play or transition periods, when many opportunities occur to share interesting "things" in the environment. For example, a boy shows interest in the packaging bubbles that are wrapped around a new toy; he feels the bubbles with all his fingers and then pushes a bubble with his index finger. The teacher acknowledges his interest and pushes the bubbles in the same way, emphasizes his finger point to the individual bubbles, and together they begin popping the bubbles.

DISTANCING

Distancing is gradually introduced through shaping and fading procedures that ultimately lead to a conceptual level of representation that is understood out of context and in a more symbolic form. It can be accomplished through various mediums, such as the use of natural gestures, mutual drawing, and naming the common referent. With regard to the foregoing example, the teacher notices that the boy shows a natural gesture of squeezing his index finger and thumb together to indicate "popping the bubbles." Consequently, she uses this natural gesture to refer to this fun activity.

IMITATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES These strategies are a higher order of coactive movement strategies. The student is able to follow the actions of the teacher without any physical support (except in the case of a student who is totally deaf-blind and with whom coactive manipulation must be used as an initial imitative model). Temporal distance is gradually introduced. The transition between coactive movement sequences and imitation is important. The teacher must use teaching strategies that assist the student to achieve more independent actions and to build his or her memory of actions and referents.

Movement sequences continue to be used within the student's daily educational and living routines. Gradually, these routines become more complicated as the student masters the skills needed for the activities. The teacher involves the student's classmates as much as possible, and thus does not always have to be the person whom the student imitates, and plans activities in which the students interact with and imitate each other. For example, a classmate consistently models (parallel imitation) how to hold the flag up in front of the class during the Pledge of Allegiance to the student who is deaf-blind. Over time, the student shows that he or she has remembered the task by anticipating the steps in the task (such as unfurling the flag).

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR DRAWING

These strategies support the use of residual vision and provide the student with an alternative communicative medium. When the teacher and student draw together, they share a communicative referent, and the student engages in active, rather than passive, learning behavior. Initially, the teacher may do all the drawing while the student watches, but gradually, the student may show interest in participating in coloring or adding certain details or may only point to certain parts of the drawing.

Drawing is used in various ways throughout the student's educational program and is implemented within the context of daily events that are meaningful for the student. The choice and use of colors play a major role in the imitation and memory building of students with residual vision. The teacher is always consistent in how he or she and the child draw the pictures together and gradually changes the complexity of the drawing when the student is ready for the learning challenge. The following are examples of drawing that are incorporated in a student's program:

Coactively tracing objects with the student's finger or with a large marker to develop a more symbolic object of reference for a particular entity.

Drawing familiar objects based on their main attributes (such as color, shape, and size) that are used as a communicative referent for the student's daily schedule.

Drawing reference cards that illustrate a series of steps that the student follows to complete a task. (The teacher and the student draw these reference cards together once they have performed the steps.)

The student who is totally blind may use raised, two-dimensional drawing and/or related parts of objects and forms. This type of drawing is introduced only when the student has learned the foundational meaning of objects as communicative referents and has demonstrated a more abstract understanding of tangible referents. Also, the student who lost vision after learning drawing strategies may transfer his or her visual conceptual understanding to raised, two- dimensional drawings and parts of meaningful objects and forms.

VIBRATIONAL-SOUND-INDUCED STRATEGIES

These strategies are designed to encourage auditory conditioning and auditory attentive behaviors in the context of meaningful activities that occur in natural settings and are often combined with coactive movement sequences, coactive manipulation, nonrepresentational reference, and imitation strategies. Vibrational-sound can be integrated into the activity through a variety of ways: the teacher's voice, audiotape recordings with amplifiers, and instruments. For example, the teacher may place the student's hands on his or her throat and lips to feel the vibrations of a song they are singing.

DISCRIMINATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

These strategies (including sorting, comparing, ordering, grouping, and choosing) are at two levels: basic discrimination (level 1) and pragmatic and academic discrimination (level 2). The teacher uses either level, depending on the student's experiences and understanding about his or her world.

Level 1 strategies are used when the student is at a presymbolic language level and has few interactive skills. They are designed to teach the student to be aware of objects in his or her environment. In addition, the student learns that the objects have distinct attributes that can be compared, sorted, and chosen within meaningful contexts. For example, during a grooming activity, if the student is presented with a hairbrush and a shoe, he or she should be able to choose the hairbrush on the basis of his or her experience and recognition of its contextual function.

Level 2 strategies are an extension of the basic discrimination strategies, but their structure is more practical and complex. Examples include setting the table, sorting washed clothes, or choosing clothes to be worn. In an academic activity, the student may learn to use discriminatory skills to sort, compare, order, and/or choose letters or words from a language experience story.

CHARACTERIZING STRATEGIES

These strategies help the student build a repertoire of communicative referents. By choosing characteristic attributes of meaningful entities (for example, people, animals, objects, events, time, or emotions), the teacher assists the student to associate communicative meaning with the attribute. The teacher must recognize the student's preferred learning modality or modalities so as to evaluate the most meaningful characterizing attribute for the student.

Encouraging the student to realize and use a characteristic attribute can be accomplished through 1) a natural gesture; 2) an associative object (object of reference); 3) a smell; 4) a taste 5) a texture; 6) a sound; 7) a picture (drawing); 8) a three-dimensional model; 9) a particular landmark in an environment; or 10) a written, spoken, or fingerspelled word in a meaningful context. For example, characterizing the teacher by a pendant is possible the teacher constantly wears the same one, or characterizing swimming by a blue tote bag is possible if the student takes the bag every swim day.

Characterizing activities are especially important for the development of symbolic language. Over time, the teacher may gradually change the-communicative referent to a more abstract form based on the student's progress in generalizing its use across environments. For example, the same blue tote bag for swimming can be gradually associated to a drawn representation in which the blue color of the bag is emphasized for swim day on the student's daily schedule.

SEQUENTIAL MEMORY STRATEGIES

These strategies are a global means of teaching the student to build memory throughout the day and work concurrently with characterizing representational or drawing strategies. The teacher uses schedules (often referred to as calendar, sequence, or memory boxes) and a diary (or memory book) to help the student understand certain time sequences. These sequences can include the beginning, middle, and end of a task, event, or activity; the schedule of events for the day or a spontaneous change in schedule; and the special experiences that have passed or will occur in the near future, such as birthdays, holidays, and family visits. Schedules are pivotal in the student's daily program in that they provide a consistent framework that the teacher can progressively and flexibly enhance and augment to build many skills and concepts (for instance, communication and language skills; organizational skills; and concepts of symbols, time, space, and distance).

The schedule comes in various sizes and shapes, depending on the student's preferred learning modes. The diary is a means for the student to record special thoughts; emotions; memories of past events, things, or people; and special occasions to come.

The schedule can be structured in a format of daily activities, weekly activities, or monthly and yearly activities (for advanced students). For example, a student who is just learning to interact with the world may have a toothbrush and a cup, a special spoon, and a wristband in individual compartments of the schedule to represent daily activities of the morning grooming routine, midmorning snack, and physical therapy. A more advanced student with residual vision may have drawings representing similar activities in a notebook.

CONVERSATIONAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

These strategies are integrated throughout the student's total program, and the teacher must plan the daily activities and tasks to organize the learning environment to integrate meaningful communication opportunities for the student. Conversational communication strategies are designed to stimulate and encourage the student to use pragmatic expressions that are related to daily events. The teacher reinforces any expressional forms that the student may use on his or her own and encourages the use of new forms of receptive or expressive communication through characterizing strategies. The teacher encourages a communicative dialogue within the context of the activity or situation at hand. The expressional forms usually begin with a signal or natural gesture and progressively build to objects of reference, signs, and/or drawings. With regard to the introduction of a pump toothpaste container, the teacher and student have a conversation about the new container; they may initially explore it tactiley, see how it works, compare it to the old container, draw or trace it, and place the drawing in the student's diary.

ANTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

These strategies are founded on routine. For example, when a familiar activity is changed, purposely or coincidentally, the student has the opportunity to express his or her awareness that something is different. The teacher must be alert to the student's anticipatory state so as to take the opportunity to expand the student's understanding of this particular situation and to build memory and communication. Also, pleasant and curiosity-provoking conditions can be incorporated into an activity to elicit anticipatory behavior (such as wrapping up items in an activity that requires the student to guess what may be in the package, finding something unexpected when going for a walk, or "accidentally" shaking up a soda bottle and opening it). Anticipation is one of the most essential language development components in the van Dijk approach. The teacher must plan for anticipatory situations and seize on spontaneous anticipatory situations within various activities.

SYMBOLIC COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

These strategies are the bridge between the student's use of natural symbols and the truly symbolic language. The teacher uses fading and shaping procedures to translate natural referents to drawings, written words, fingerspelled words, formal sign language, and/or speech that is of the language of the student's culture. For example, for a trip to a pet store, the teacher plans that the student may feed some of the fish and birds and makes two brailled reference cards with the student with small bagged samples of birdseed and fish food attached to each card. In subsequent trips to the pet store, the actual birdseed and fish food are gradually faded out, so that only the brailled words remain. When gradually transforming the natural referents, the teacher must consider all the student's potential learning modalities: visual (such as drawing), auditory (such as listening to the teacher's directions), tactile (such as signing or using braille), and visual- auditory (such as using a written word after speech).

Symbolic communication strategies help the student use problem-solving behavior in regard to the constructs of language. The teacher gradually expands on the student's existing vocabulary by planning lessons in which the student and teacher have a dialogue about the topic at hand. The teacher also follows the student's lead about a subject that may arise from a planned lesson or that the student may spontaneously raise. From this dialogue, the teacher guides the student to document the conversation or experience via writing, brailling, and/or drawing.

Using this meaningful experience, the teacher develops reading and comprehension lessons for the student. These lessons help the student practice identifying targeted language skills, such as matching words to pictures, alphabetizing vocabulary words, organizing the weekly schedule, answering reading comprehension questions, and developing and writing lunch recipes or menus. These lessons continue to build on each other, so the student always has a meaningful foundation from which to expand his or her language usage. Conclusion

The instructional strategies presented here all combine to form the fundamental components of the van Dijk curricular approach for students who are deaf-blind. The teacher is the essential figure in ensuring that these fundamental components are appropriately implemented throughout the student's educational program. Many of the instructional strategies are integrated, so they are implemented simultaneously, not as separate activities in the daily program.

The coordination and implementation of these strategies in the student's program require a considerable amount of preparation. The following recommendations are intended to help classroom teachers initially implement the van Dijk approach in the classroom:

Establish a meaningful daily routine for the student to provide the basis for the instructional strategies.

Start implementing the strategies thoughtfully and in a systematic way.

Involve other members of the educational team in implementing the strategies and in enhancing, augmenting, or changing the strategies to meet and challenge the student's present abilities.

Refer to Siegel-Causey and Guess's (1989) book for a detailed description of observational and interactional skills and guidelines and strategies that are similar to the orientation of the van Dijk approach.

Request technical assistance from the state 307.11 project coordinator for services for individuals who are deaf-blind for the educational team.

Phone the National Information Clearing House on Children Who Are Deaf-Blind (D-B LINK) at (800) 438-9376 for written information about the van Dijk curricular approach, related materials, or technical assistance.

Attend workshops or presentations about the approach at state, national, or international conferences.

References

Ainsworth, M.D.S., Bell, S.M., & Stayton, D.J. (1974). Infant-mother attachment and social development: "Socialization" as a product of reciprocal responsiveness to signals. In M.P.M. Richards (Ed.), The integration of a child into a social world (pp. 99-135). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Baldwin, V. (1993). Population/demographics. In J.W. Reiman & P.A. Johnson (Eds.), Proceedings of the National Symposium on Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind (pp. 53- 66). Monmouth, OR: Teaching Research Publications. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss. Vol. II: Separation, anxiety, and anger. New York: Basic Books Inc.

Downing, J. (1993). Communication intervention for individuals with dual sensory and intellectual impairments. Clinics in Communication Disorders, 3, 31-42.

Jurgens, M.R. (1977). Confrontation between the young deaf-blind child and the outer world: How to make the world surveyable by organized structure. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.

Kratz, L.E., Tutt, L.M., & Black, D.A. (19X7). Movement and fundamental motor skills for sensory deprived children. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

MacFarland, S. (1994). Teachers' understanding and implementation of van Dijk's learning theory for students who are deaf-blind (Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, 1993). Dissertation Abstracts International, 55-03A, 533.

Siegel-Causey, E. & Guess, D. (1989). Enhancing nonsymbolic communication interactions among learners with severe disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Stillman, R.D. & Battle, C.W. (1984). Developing prelanguage communication in the severely handicapped: An interpretation of the van Dijk method. Seminars in Speech and Language, 5, 159-170. van Dijk, J. (1967). The non-verbal deaf-blind child and his world: His outgrowth toward the world of symbols. Proceedings of the Jaarverslag Instituut voor Doven, 1964-1967 (pp. 73-110). Sint Michielsgestel, The Netherlands: Instituut voor Doven. van Dijk, J. (1983). Rubella handicapped children: The effect of bilateral cataract and/or hearing impairment on behavior and learning. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger. van Dijk, J. (1986). An educational curriculum for deaf-blind multihandicapped persons. In D. Ellis (Ed.), Sensory impairments in mentally handicapped people (pp. 374-382). London: CroomHelm. van Uden, A.M.J. (1977). A world of language for deaf children. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.

Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Writer, J. (1987). A movement-based approach to the education of students who are sensory impaired/multihandicapped. In L. Goetz, D. Guess, & K. Stremel-Campbell (Eds.), Innovative program design for individuals with dual sensory impairments (pp. 191-223). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. The author greatly appreciates the time and efforts of Dr. van Dijk and the teachers of the deaf- blind department at the Instituut voor Doven, Sint Michielsgestel, The Netherlands, in supporting this research. Their work continues to be an inspiration.

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By Stephanie Z.C. MacFarland

Stephanie Z.C. MacFarland, PhD., curriculum coordinator, Perkins National Deaf-Blind Training Project, Perkins School for the Blind, 175 North Beacon Street, Watertown, MA 02172.

COACTIVE MOVEMENT

In coactive movement, a teaching strategy that is often used with students who are deaf-blind, the teacher literally follows the student's movements or actions in a reciprocating fashion to establish a mutual sharing of a common movement or action. The student soon learns that "When I do this, the teacher does it, too" and may follow teacher-initiated movements. The teacher chooses movements that are meaningful and can be expanded into chains or sequences of movement that have clear beginning and ending points. These sequences can range from a simple series of actions of a play song to a more complicated series of steps in learning a mobility route to the school's snack bar.

Box 1

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