SECTION 5 - What Other Issues Impact Learners with Vision and Hearing Losses that do not Impact Learners without Vision and Hearing Losses?

There are some general considerations about how vision and hearing losses impact the learning, growth, and development for learners with deafblindness. These general considerations are important to better understand how learners with deafblindness acquire knowledge, interpret events occurring in or within their worlds, interact with others, and especially develop receptive and expressive communication. (Refer to Modules 4 to 6 for more information about communication for learners who are deafblind.) Some of these considerations for learners with deafblindness relate to learning styles, communication, and understanding of concepts, while others concern relationships, use of near and foreground/background senses, and imagery.

Deafblindness is about information gathering. How the learner with deafblindness learns about the events occurring in his or her world is through the use of; (a) distance and near senses, and (b) foreground and background senses.

"Distance senses" are vision and hearing. "Near senses" are touch, movement, taste and smell. "Foreground senses" are those senses that learners primarily use to gather information about the events occurring in their world at a particular time. "Background senses" are those used to help the primary senses interpret information that is occurring during particular events.

Vision, hearing, and sometimes smell can serve as both foreground and background senses. For example, the distance sense of vision is the foreground sense when watching TV. Conversely, vision may serve as the background sense when the learner is having a conversation with someone (i.e., talking on the phone.)

The distance sense of hearing would serve as a foreground sense when talking on the phone or having a conversation with a friend in the classroom. Hearing also could be a background sense when participating in activities like cooking, riding a bike or reading.

The near senses of touch, taste, and movement serve in almost every circumstance as foreground senses. (The difference between a learner who has intact vision and hearing and a learner who is deafblind is illustrated in two scenarios below.)

Scenario 1:
The Use of Foreground and Background Sense
for A Learner Who Can See and Hear

    You have intact vision and hearing. You are watching TV. Someone enters your kitchen door to answer the phone that is ringing. You don't turn around to see who it is that entered your kitchen. You continue watching TV.

    The distance and foreground senses you are using while you are watching TV are primarily vision, with some supplemental information provided by hearing. Since you do not pay any attention to the person who is answering the phone, you continue to use your distance and foreground senses, vision and some hearing, while you continue to watch TV. You also use your near and background senses (e.g., vibration from the door slamming and the person walking over to the phone). Your use of distance and near senses, and foreground and background senses provide you with information that helps you understand what is going on in your immediate environment.

Scenario 2:
The Use of Foreground and Background Sense
for A Learner Who has Residual Vision and A Profound Hearing Loss

    You have been diagnosed as having low vision which means you have some useful vision and you have a bilateral profound hearing loss. You are watching TV. Someone enters your kitchen door to answer the phone that is ringing. You don't turn around to see who it is that entered your kitchen. You continue watching TV.

    The distance and foreground sense you are using during this time is vision. You are able to see the TV screen at a close distance and with the lights dimmed. You also are able to read the closed caption on the TV. Since you do not pay any attention to the person who slammed the kitchen door to answer the phone, you also use your near and background sense (e.g., vibration from the door slamming and the person walking over to the phone). Your use of distance and near, and foreground and background senses provide you with information that helps you understand what is going on in your immediate environment.

Therefore, it is necessary to plan not only how to give instruction or communicate with a learner who is deafblind, but, it is just as important to plan how the learner with deafblindness is going to receive the information as clearly as possible. Again, the strategies to clearly present information are based on the type of deafblindness, the degree of sensory loss, the onset of sensory losses, and the use of distance, near, foreground, and background senses.

Environmental considerations. Environmental considerations are extremely important for learners who are deafblind in order for them to optimize participation in activities, communication, and movement within different environments. Learners with deafblindness should be positioned in the direction of the setting that will best enhance their distance senses, as well as near senses. For example, learners with deafblindness should be positioned away from glare or visual clutter on the walls of a classroom. They also should be placed closer to the front of the room where the teacher is most likely to provide instructions or give demonstrations.

Proximity. Proximity to others is important since most learners with deafblindness do not have complete use of their distance senses. This means interactions with learners who are deafblind need to be close while respecting their communication systems, learning styles, and comfort. For example, touch cues may be used to let the learner with deafbindness know that someone wants to engage in a conversation.

Communicate using different modes and systems. Learners with deafblindness often use multimodal systems to communicate. Some learners will use gestures, tactual signs, and vocalizations for receptive and expressive communication. Other learners who are deafblind will use nonsymbolic behaviors (e.g., reaching for an object, pushing an object away, etc.), some object cues, and a switch with voice output to greet their classmates as they enter the classroom. (Refer to Modules 4 to 6 for more information on communication for learners with deafblindness.)

It is important when communicating with learners who are deafblind to wait for their response to a comment or question. Remember, since their use of distance and near senses may not be as clear, learners with deafblindness need some extra time to process what is being asked in order to respond to your question or comments.

It is important to directly communicate to learners who are deafblind that have interpreters. The conversation should be similar to a conversation that is conducted between persons who do not have vision and hearing losses. The interpreter serves as an "invisible" appendage for the learner who is deafblind. Even though the interpreter may have to voice for the learner who is deafblind, it is important that facial and body orientation is directed toward the learner who is deafblind and that questions or answers are directed to the learner with deafblindness; not the interpreter.

Task for Completion and Discussion #5:

Using the information that you learned from completing Task #2, provide two short scenarios about how each person would use their foreground and background, and near and distance senses to understand what was going on during the scenario. Use the information included in their personal testimonies to give you ideas.

For More Information:

If you would like further information click on one of the resource links below.

Indiana Deafblind Services Project
Type in the URL: http://www.indstate.edu/soe/blumberg/Deafblind
Click on the link: Indiana Deafblind Services Project Loan Library
Pull down the box: Keyword
Type in the key word: deafblind
Click on the link: Abstract by the resource title
Click in the checkbox for checking out the resource

University or Public Library
Check out:
Gee, K. (1994). The learner who is deaf-blind. Constructing context from depleted sources. In K.Gee, M.Alwell, N. Graham, & L. Goetz (Eds.), Instructing instructional design: Facilitating informed and active learning for individuals who are deaf-blind in inclusive schools (pp. 11-31). San Francisco: California Research Institute.