Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Deafblind'

This study addresses the situation of adults who become deafblind. To date, their everday lives have received little attention in the research literature. Of the few studies conducted many involve surveys, the findings of which present the characteristics of people who are deafblind such as their rates of employment, need for support, or use of equipment. There are also a small number of qualitative studies that have explored the effects of having dual sensory impairment, and particularly in relation to communication and psycho-social wellbeing. Important as these research efforts have been, there is little empirical information available about the everyday lives of people who become deafblind and their concerns, nor any systematic attempt to theorise their experiences. There are however many personal anecdotes typically presented at conferences or through community publications and newsletters. This project aimed to redress the gap in the literature by developing a theoretical framework to explain the everyday experiences of adult who become deafblind. In doing so, it built upon the research and anecdotal literature with an overall purpose of presenting, through rigorous research, the experiences of adults who become deafblind and to do so within the broader discourse on disability and disablism. The study was informed by the social relational understanding of disability developed within the Nordic countries. Grounded theory was the method of choice to examine the lives of adults who become deafblind from their own perspective.Participant observation was employed through direct engagement in shared experiences with adults who have become deafblind both at a social group and via an e-mail list group. Mulitple in-depth interviews were undertaken both face to face and by e-mail with a smaller group of eight participants.The core finding from this study is that people who become deafblind are rendered interactionally powerless in a society predicated on seeing and hearing. The powerlessness that they experience comes from having this dual impairment in a world in which being able to see and hear are expected both in the physical and social environment. The inability of people who become deafblind to 'know and be' in the world in the same way as others results in them feeling, and experienceing, interactional powerlessness. In response, people who become deafblind actively engage in trying to minimise or remove their powerlessness. They do so by working to negotiate a place in this hostile world. They adopt four interrelated strategies, namely, doing things differently, managing support relationships, survivings others' perceptions and presenting sides of self.This study, with its central tenet that interactional powerlessness drives ongoing attempts to negotiate a place makes a theoretical contribution to understanding the experience of becoming deafblind. The findings support the concept of disbaility as social relational. Disability is not the same as the sensory impairment, rather it is expressed in the organisation of personal relations in society which render some more powerful than others and in this case, some less powerful due to their inability to use the natural means of communication of hearing and sight. Moreover, the study findings propose that professionals working with people with this dual sensory impairment must endeavour to reduce their part in the hostile world by providing information about options and support available; recognising the complexity of these adults support requirements; and considering the link between psycho-emotional issues and disablism. Further research is needed to understand empirically and theoretically the relative contribution of personal relationships vis a vis organisational or structural relationships in disabling people who become deafblind.

Doctor of Philosophy
This study addresses the situation of adults who become deafblind. To date, their everday lives have received little attention in the research literature. Of the few studies conducted many involve surveys, the findings of which present the characteristics of people who are deafblind such as their rates of employment, need for support, or use of equipment. There are also a small number of qualitative studies that have explored the effects of having dual sensory impairment, and particularly in relation to communication and psycho-social wellbeing. Important as these research efforts have been, there is little empirical information available about the everyday lives of people who become deafblind and their concerns, nor any systematic attempt to theorise their experiences. There are however many personal anecdotes typically presented at conferences or through community publications and newsletters. This project aimed to redress the gap in the literature by developing a theoretical framework to explain the everyday experiences of adult who become deafblind. In doing so, it built upon the research and anecdotal literature with an overall purpose of presenting, through rigorous research, the experiences of adults who become deafblind and to do so within the broader discourse on disability and disablism. The study was informed by the social relational understanding of disability developed within the Nordic countries. Grounded theory was the method of choice to examine the lives of adults who become deafblind from their own perspective.Participant observation was employed through direct engagement in shared experiences with adults who have become deafblind both at a social group and via an e-mail list group. Mulitple in-depth interviews were undertaken both face to face and by e-mail with a smaller group of eight participants.The core finding from this study is that people who become deafblind are rendered interactionally powerless in a society predicated on seeing and hearing. The powerlessness that they experience comes from having this dual impairment in a world in which being able to see and hear are expected both in the physical and social environment. The inability of people who become deafblind to 'know and be' in the world in the same way as others results in them feeling, and experienceing, interactional powerlessness. In response, people who become deafblind actively engage in trying to minimise or remove their powerlessness. They do so by working to negotiate a place in this hostile world. They adopt four interrelated strategies, namely, doing things differently, managing support relationships, survivings others' perceptions and presenting sides of self.This study, with its central tenet that interactional powerlessness drives ongoing attempts to negotiate a place makes a theoretical contribution to understanding the experience of becoming deafblind. The findings support the concept of disbaility as social relational. Disability is not the same as the sensory impairment, rather it is expressed in the organisation of personal relations in society which render some more powerful than others and in this case, some less powerful due to their inability to use the natural means of communication of hearing and sight. Moreover, the study findings propose that professionals working with people with this dual sensory impairment must endeavour to reduce their part in the hostile world by providing information about options and support available; recognising the complexity of these adults support requirements; and considering the link between psycho-emotional issues and disablism. Further research is needed to understand empirically and theoretically the relative contribution of personal relationships vis a vis organisational or structural relationships in disabling people who become deafblind.

This dissertation examines the social and interactional foundations of a grammatical divergence between Tactile American Sign Language (TASL) and Visual American Sign Language (VASL) in the Seattle DeafBlind community. I argue that as a result of the pro-tactile movement, structures of interaction have been reconfigured and a new language has begun to emerge. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research, more than 190 hours of videorecordings of interaction and language use, 50 interviews with members of the community, and more than 14 years of involvement in a range of capacities, I analyze this social transformation and its effect on the semiotic organization of TASL.

I identify two processes as requisite for the emergence of TASL: deictic integration and embedding in the social field. Deictic integration involves the coordination of grammatical systems with modes of access and orientation that are reciprocal across a group of language-users. Embedding in the social field involves: (1) the legitimation of the language for taking up valued social roles, along with the embodied knowledge necessary for doing so, and (2) authorization of some language-users to evaluate linguistic forms and communicative practices as correct or not.

In this dissertation, I track these processes among DeafBlind people and I show how they are leading to new mechanisms for referring to the immediate environment and tracking referents across a stream of discourse (Chapter 7), new rules for the formation of lexical signs (Chapter 8), and a new system for generating semiotically complex signs, which incorporate both linguistic and non-linguistic elements (Chapter 9). In order to understand the social and interactional foundations of these emergent systems, I examine the history of two institutions around which the Seattle DeafBlind community was built (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, I show how social roles, given by the history of those institutions, were reconfigured by DeafBlind leaders and how this led to changes in modes of access and orientation (Chapters 5 and 6). I argue that as relations between linguistic, deictic, and social phenomena grew tighter and more restricted, a new tactile language began to emerge. I therefore apprehend language emergence not as a process of liberation or abstraction from context, but as a process of contextual integration (Chapter 1).

This thesis explores the concept of learning styles as they relate to the education of deafblind children. A literature review concludes that assessment of learning may be more effective than assessment of skills. The practice of assessment in the UK is researched through the use of a survey of teachers of deafblind learners. This survey indicates that teachers favour informal observational assessments, and that they do not currently assess learning style, and may not know what it is. A second literature review and other arguments show that the concept of learning style is relevant to deafblind learners. A series of case studies of deafblind children is then described. Methods for studying learning styles are developed through these case studies. These methods initially explore the concept of style through prompt modality preference, and then through wider aspects of style. The assessments demonstrate that each child has her own individual learning styles, notwithstanding the shared impairment of deafblindness. The application of learning style preferences to teaching shows some evidence of improved learning. In addition, the outcomes of the studies challenge some accepted pedagogical principles for the education of deafblind children, such as the priority of communication skills above self-help skills.

This thesis is about partnerships involving congenitally deafblind people journeying towards language. The focus will be on the first steps of that journey: how partnerships make initial moves away from the here-and-now. In order to understand how this happens in the tactile medium, this thesis will draw on Reddy’s model (2003 and 2008) of the expanding awareness of the objects of the other’s attention to analyse how both partners are able to share attention to self, what self does, what self perceives and finally what self remembers. Demonstrating that both partners can operate at each of these four stages in the tactile medium then allows me to focus particularly on the final stage, what self remembers, and ask: what happens within partnerships if either partner brings movements, gestures or signs that refer to people, objects, places or events not present? Do both partners come to comprehend and produce such referential movements, gestures and signs in forms perceivable by both? Such questions will be considered against the backdrop of the dialogical framework, since in any exploration of human interaction it makes no sense simply to consider it from one perspective. At all times throughout this thesis, the focus will be on partnership. This thesis raises a number of practical recommendations about approaches and attitudes to be adopted by non-deafblind partners if language is going to be an outcome for their partnerships with congenitally deafblind people. But it will also conclude with a number of theoretical questions about how we define language in the first place.

This research study investigated the relationship between teachers' understanding of the theoretical principles underlying the Van Dijk Curriculum for students labelled deaf-blind and teachers' implementation of related instructional strategies. This study was conducted at the Rafael School located on the campus of the Instituut voor Doven, a school for deaf children, in The Netherlands. Six teachers who were specifically trained for at least three years in the Van Dijk Curriculum at the Rafael School were observed and interviewed during an academic school year. A comprehensive system was developed to examine the dynamic relationship between teachers' understanding and implementation. Using qualitative research methodology, teacher implementation was documented through observations and teacher understanding was documented through interviews. A systematic coding procedure was used to analyze the data. In general, the findings indicated that a relatively consistent relationship was found between teacher understanding and implementation for five of the six teachers. The one exception was a teacher who demonstrated that she understood the theory underlying the curriculum but was not a high implementor of the related instructional strategies. Possible explanations regarding this particular teacher's incongruent relationship of understanding and implementation are presented. This study demonstrates that a systematic procedure can be developed to investigate the relationship of a curricular theory applied to practice. Furthermore, this study provides insight into how teachers' understanding of theory translates into practice. The particular conditions and circumstances under which the relationship of teachers' understanding and implementation was investigated in this study suggest that a shared philosophy, a theory-based curricular model with integrated strategies, and ongoing staff collaboration and administrative support seem to impact this dynamic relationship.

This psychobiographical study of Helen Keller’s life is exploratory-descriptive in nature. The subject was chosen through purposive sampling. The choice was based on the researcher’s personal interest and the remarkable impact this profoundly handicapped woman had within her society. Helen Keller also meets the psychobiographical requirements. These include that she is historically well known, inspirational, and her life has been completed. The study uses a qualitative, single case, interpretive research design. The design is employed to study Helen Keller’s entire life span within a formal psychological theory. The theory used in this study is Daniel Levinson’s (1996) Life Structure theory of adult development. Data for this study were collected from a variety of primary and secondary sources which provided alternative perspectives on her life. In addition, the data have been corroborated by historical texts, and newspaper and journal articles. Levinson’s (1996) theory divides the lifespan into four developmental eras, each with its own biopsychosocial character. Each era in turn is divided into shorter periods of development, each with particular developmental tasks. Cross-era transitions separate the eras. By describing and exploring the data according to this theory, Helen Keller as a profoundly handicapped person is shown to display universal patterns of development as suggested by Levinson. At the same time, the Life Structure she developed, her life components, and Satisfactoriness illuminated her uniqueness. Through the application of the theory to Helen Keller’s life, this psychobiographical study facilitated an examination of the theory. This led to suggestions for potential development of the theory.

Submitted by SANDRA SAMARA PIRES FARIAS (sandrafarias@ifba.edu.br) on 2015-11-04T11:48:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Os processos de inclusão dos alunos com surdocegueira na educação básica.pdf: 3068670 bytes, checksum: 9f09ae437b4836801a1829bad842f97c (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2015-11-04T15:51:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Os processos de inclusão dos alunos com surdocegueira na educação básica.pdf: 3068670 bytes, checksum: 9f09ae437b4836801a1829bad842f97c (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-04T15:51:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Os processos de inclusão dos alunos com surdocegueira na educação básica.pdf: 3068670 bytes, checksum: 9f09ae437b4836801a1829bad842f97c (MD5)
Este trabalho trata dos processos de inclusão dos alunos com surdocegueira congênitos ou adquiridos na tenra idade na Educação Básica. A surdocegueira refere-se à condição do déficit simultâneo da audição e da visão, resultando em uma deficiência singular que ocasiona a privação dos dois sentidos responsáveis pela recepção de informações à distância. O estudo teve como objetivo central investigar as narrativas dos processos educacionais de alunos com surdocegueira, relacionando-as com as garantias dos direitos educacionais na Educação Básica. A abordagem do tema foi perspectivada nas experiências das pessoas com surdocegueira, ouvindo a “voz” desses alunos por meio das narrativas da sua história de vida acadêmica. Participaram desse estudo dois alunos com surdocegueira, dos tipos congênita e adquirida na tenra idade, cursando ou já tendo cursado o ensino médio, em escolas de ensino regular, no estado da Bahia. O estudo constituiu-se como uma pesquisa qualitativa, com abordagem do tipo história de vida, buscando nas narrativas, as memórias dos participantes sobre as suas itinerâncias de inclusão educacional. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi a entrevista narrativa, registrada em filme e desencadeada a partir de uma questão geradora. A análise e discussão dos dados foram organizadas considerando a análise de conteúdos. Os resultados revelaram que: os narradores utilizaram formas de comunicação diferentes e eficientes para o processo de inclusão escolar, a libras e comunicação oral. Ambos utilizaram ainda, com fluência, o sistema de leitura e escrita braille; a participação da família como mediadora da comunicação dos participantes foi fundamental, sendo a mesma estimulada precocemente, em ambos os casos; as informações que os pais levaram para as escolas tratavam da especificidade e variedade da surdocegueira dos seus filhos, dados que contribuíram de forma assertiva para a inclusão escolar, ajudando a nortear os trabalhos que foram desenvolvidos com os alunos com surdocegueira, tanto na sala comum como no atendimento educacional especializado; as famílias imprimiram importância a educação de seus filhos com surdocegueira para que seus objetivos fossem alcançados e quando a escola estava preparada para oferecer o tipo de apoio que a família necessitava, estabelecia-se uma parceria, criando um ambiente amistoso e receptivo; sobre a inclusão na educação infantil, os participantes tiveram caminhos diferenciados, um foi matriculado em escola especial e em classe especial e suas interações se deram com crianças com surdez, enquanto que o outro foi matriculado em escola regular e suas interações foram permeadas pela diversidade de alunos; sobre a inclusão no ensino fundamental e médio, para ambos os narradores ocorreu em escolas de ensino regular, pública e privada; quanto ao atendimento educacional especializado, tanto na esfera privada, como na esfera pública, não foram atendidas as reais necessidades dos alunos com surdocegueira. De maneira geral, percebeu-se que os estudantes foram atendidos de forma fragmentada, não havendo articulação entre os professores do ensino o comum e ensino especial. O estudo, então, demonstra, dentre outros aspectos, a urgente necessidade de formação para os profissionais da sala comum e especial tanto na esfera pública como na privada.
ABSTRACT This work treats of inclusion processes of students with congenital and acquired at the tender deafblindness, in Basic Education. The deafblindness refers to the condition of simultaneous deficit of hearing and vision, resulting in a singular deficiency that causes the deprivation of the two senses responsible for receiving information from a distance. The study had as its central objective to investigate the narratives of educational processes of students with deafblindness relating them to the guarantees of educational rights in Basic Education. The theme approach was envisaged in the experiences of people with deafblindness, hearing the "voice" of these students through the narratives of their stories of academic life. The study included two students with deafblindness, the congenital and acquired at the tender age types, studying or having already completed high school in regular schools in the state of Bahia. The study consisted of a qualitative research, with type approach life history, seeking the narratives, memories of the participants about their itinerant educational inclusion. The data collection instrument was the narrative interview, recorded on film and triggered from a generating question. The analysis and discussion of the data were organized considering the content analysis. The results revealed that: the narrators used different and efficient forms of communication for the school inclusion process, libras and oral communication, both used also, with fluency, reading and writing Braille system; family involvement as a mediator of communication of participants was essential and was the same stimulated early, in both cases; The information that the parents took to the schools dealt with the specificity and variety of the deafblindness of their children, data that contributed assertively for school inclusion, helping to guide the works that have been developed with students with deafblindness, both in the common room as in specialized educational services; the families printed great importance to education of their children with deafblindness, not measuring efforts to achieve their goals and when the school was prepared to offer the kind of support that the family needed, established up a partnership, creating a friendly environment and receptive; on inclusion in early childhood education, participants had different paths, one was enrolled in special schools and in special classes and their interactions were with children with deafness, while the other was enrolled in regular school and their interactions were permeated by the diversity of students; on inclusion in primary and secondary education for both narrators took place in regular schools, public and private; as the specialized educational services, both in the private sphere as in the public sphere, were not answered the real needs of students with deafblindness. Overall it was noticed that the students were fragmented served, with no articulation between the common school teachers and special education. The study then demonstrates, among other aspects, the urgent need for training for common and special class of professionals in both public and in private.

Rehabilitation and education are faced with the growing need for adequate and appropriate assessment tools for over 9,000 congenitally deaf-blind persons in this country. These tools are needed to help form the basis for evaluation of these clients/students so that programs appropriate to their specific needs can be determined. In the past, assessment of the functional development of this population has been based on tests standardized on populations of non-handicapped individuals. These measuring primarily language abilities, and experiential factors. Observational procedures can examine the spontaneous behavior of subjects over a long period of time. This is an alternative to standardized instruments. One of these in current use is the Basic Life Skills Screening Inventory. This instrument was developed in 1982 for the purpose of assisting educators and counselors in establishing the readiness of deaf-blind, developmentally disabled clients/students for vocational and life skills training. Though useful in its original form, this instrument has two major limitations. One is the fact that the rater is given only limited choices, resulting in a ceiling effect and a pronounced skew of many of its scales. Another limitation is its lengthy 283 item format, requiring too much administration time to be practical on a daily basis. The present study focused on making needed modifications in this instrument that would help alleviate these limitations, and continue to maintain high psychometric properties within the instrument. In doing this, rater choices were expanded from three (3) to five (5) column headings, and the instrument was reduced from 283 items to 145 items. This study was designed to answer the following questions: (1) Can the Basic Life Skills Screening Inventory be modified in such a way as to give the rater a greater response choice, thus allowing for a more refined assessment? (2) Can the 283 item, Basic Life Skills Screening Inventory be shortened by approximately 50%, to allow for an easier and more practical administration, and continue to maintain high psychometric properties? Results indicate that, despite the modifications, a very high overall consistency among the items was maintained with a total average alpha of 9935.5.

Orientador: Silvia A. Mikami G. Pina
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T09:52:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arias_CamilaRamos_M.pdf: 8487016 bytes, checksum: e1919c119989fae9cc82fd8387d12dbb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008
Resumo: Trabalhos recentes na área do Desenho Universal e do projeto inclusivo têm contemplado a acessibilidade física e eliminação de barreiras arquitetônicas e urbanísticas com o objetivo de proporcionar a acessibilidade a todas as pessoas com deficiências, temporárias ou permanentes. Porém, tem sido constatado o aumento das deficiências múltiplas, entre elas a surdocegueira, sem a correspondente preocupação dos projetistas com os ambientes voltados especialmente para essas pessoas. Como hipótese, entende-se que o surdocego necessita de um conjunto de elementos ambientais para permitir e estimular a sua acessibilidade física, mobilidade e percepção do espaço, proporcionando-lhe oportunidades de inclusão. Assim, este trabalho reúne informações relevantes, no campo da percepção e necessidades espaciais do surdocego, a fim de subsidiar os profissionais na elaboração de seus projetos. Também propõe diretrizes gerais para a adequada inserção dessas questões nas metodologias de avaliação, em especial na complementação de tais aspectos na avaliação. Para tanto, realiza um estudo de campo para análise e a caracterização de instituições de referência no atendimento e apoio ao surdocego e passeios acompanhados com surdocegos em locais públicos. Para a coleta de dados do estudo de campo são utilizados fichas de avaliaçao, entrevistas parcialmente estruturadas e avaliações em cada instituição e percurso avaliado. A partir da análise, desenvolveram-se orientações aos profissionais projetistas e indicações de aspectos e elementos a serem adicionados para uma avaliação de uso apropriado de ambientes, contribuindo efetivamente para que futuros projetos considerem os aspectos da acessibilidade e percepção ambiental para uma inclusão plena
Abstract: Recent works in the Universal Design and inclusive project area have been contemplating the physical accessibility and elimination of architectural and town barriers with the objective of providing the accessibility the all of the people with deficiencies, temporary or permanent. However, the increase of the multiple disabilities has been verified, among them the deafblind people, without the designers' correspondent concern with the environment, especially to those people. As hypothesis, the work understands that the deafblind necessity a group of environmental elements to allow and to stimulate their physical accessibility, mobility and perception of the space, providing them inclusion opportunities. Like this, this work gather relevant information, in the field of the perception and space necessities of the deafblind, in order to subsidize the professionals in the elaboration of their projects. The work also propose general guidelines for the appropriate insert of those subjects about evaluation methodologies, especially in the complementation of such aspects in evaluation. For this, it accomplishes a field study for analysis and the characterization of reference institutions in the service and support to the deafblind and folloied strolls with deafblind people in public places. For the collection of data of the field study forms will be used with evaluation fiches, interviews partially structured and evaluations of each institution and folloied strolls. Starting from the analysis, it developed orientations to the architectural professional¿s designers and indications of aspects and elements to be added for an adapted use evaluation of environments, contributing indeed so that futures projects consider the aspects of the accessibility and environmental perception for a full inclusion
Mestrado
Arquitetura e Construção
Mestre em Engenharia Civil

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:40:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elenir Ferreira Porto Carillo.pdf: 670648 bytes, checksum: b1938b1f3f6feda76faeb7833d29b1bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-01
The present study had as goal analyzing the opinion of the deafblinds acquired on the importance of the guide-interpreter in the process of communication and mobility in routine situations. It is focused specifically, on one hand, in situations that decrease the number of difficulties faced by them and their overcoming of the same ones; and on the other hand, situations that increase difficulties on the way of the deafblind. The sample was constituted by four deafblinds acquired, members of the Brazilian Association of the Deafblinds who already took part in programs of habilitation and rehabilitation related to communication and mobility, and the ones who make use of guide-interpreter services. Data was collected by individual interviews using a questionnaire specially elaborated for this project, organized in charts displaying this way, situations which make possible the decrease, overcoming and increase of the difficulties to each individual studied and the sample as a whole. The data analyzed showed that the guide-interpreter can overcome or decrease the deafblind s difficulties as they use different communication and mobility techniques. It was considered by the individuals researched, the necessity of this professional to have the ability and experience on the application of these techniques. However, the issues related to the deficiency on the application of such techniques by the guide-interpreter were the causes of the increase of difficulties reported by the individuals studied. It was also shown interferences coming from personal issues, pointing out to interpersonal relation issues, something not explored fully on the education of this professional. Attention to this matter could contribute satisfactorily on the performance of the guide-interpreter along with deafblinds acquired.
O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar a opinião de surdocegos adquiridos sobre a importância do guia-intérprete no processo de comunicação e mobilidade, em situações do cotidiano. Especificamente voltou-se para: de um lado, as que propiciam a diminuição e superação de dificuldades; de outro lado as que aumentaram as dificuldades. A amostra foi constituída por quatro surdocegos adquiridos, filiados a Associação Brasileira de Surdocegos, que já participaram de programas de habilitação e reabilitação no que tange à comunicação e mobilidade e que utilizam os serviços de guia-intérprete. Os dados foram coletados a partir de entrevistas individuais, utilizando um questionário especialmente elaborado, alocados em Quadros, possibilitando a exposição das situações que propiciam diminuição, superação e aumento das dificuldades para cada sujeito de pesquisa e para a amostra como um todo. Os dados analisados mostraram que o guia-intérprete consegue superar ou diminuir as dificuldades dos surdocegos à medida que se utiliza das diferentes técnicas de comunicação e mobilidade. Foi valorizado de forma consensual pelos sujeitos pesquisados que esse profissional tenha habilidade e experiência na aplicação dessas técnicas. Por outro lado, questões relativas à deficiência na aplicação, por parte do guia-intérprete, das referidas técnicas foram, consensualmente, as causas de aumento das dificuldades relatadas pelos sujeitos estudados. Foram, também, assinaladas interferências de fatores pessoais, apontando para a questão do relacionamento interpessoal, algo ainda não explorado completamente na formação desse profissional. Atenção a essa questão poderá contribuir satisfatoriamente no desempenho do guia-intérprete junto aos surdocegos adquiridos.

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar um programa de Orientação e Mobilidade para pessoas surdocegas, sugerindo caminhos para a inclusão na escola, no trabalho, e em outros ambientes; promovendo recursos para o desenvolvimento de autonomia e acessibilidade e sugerir diretrizes para novos programas, bem como, resgatar a auto-estima, a autonomia e, principalmente, a qualidade de vida para esta população. A pesquisa aponta a importância do protocolo de avaliação para o desenvolvimento do programa Passo a Passo de Orientação e Mobilidade para pessoas surdocegas visando realizar as adaptações necessárias nas técnicas de guia-vidente, bengala longa e a criação de recursos para favorecer um deslocamento orientado e seguro.
The objective of this study was to analyze an Orientation and Mobility program for deafblind people, suggesting paths to inclusion at school, work, and other environments; promoting resources for the development of autonomy and accessibility and suggest guidelines to new programs, as well as, to recover self-esteem, autonomy and, mainly, the quality of life of this population. The research points out the importance of the assessment procedure for the development of the Orientation and Mobility Step-by-Step Program for deafblind people, which aims the realization of necessary adaptations in the long cane and sighted-guide techniques, and the creation of resources to favor a safe and oriented travel.

A Surdocegueira é ainda uma deficiência pouco estudada em Portugal, no entanto, tem sido cada vez mais objeto de estudo e de investigação científica nas áreas biológicas, da saúde, das tecnologias, bem como da educação. Dessa crescente importância e visibilidade, decorreu a relevância do presente estudo sobre a construção de projetos de vida e de carreira em pessoas portadoras dessa deficiência. Foi utilizada a metodologia de histórias de vida para analisar, num estudo de caso, a narrativa do participante sobre a construção do projeto de vida. A narrativa foi explorada a partir de um guião de entrevista proposto por McAdams (1993) e Savickas (2011), cujos resultados obtidos revelaram o processo de organização identitário dessa pessoa; ABSTRACT: The Deafblindeness is still a deficiency rarely studied in Portugal, however, it has been increasingly suject matter peals scientific investigations in biological, health and technological areas as well as in the educational area. This study ran from the relevance of life and career construction project in people with this disability. It was used the methodology of life stories to examine, in a study case, the participant´s narrative on the construction of the life project. The narrative was explored from a semistructured interview guide, built from the interview guidelines proposed by McAdams (1993) and Savickas (2011), whose results showed the process of organizing identity of that person.

This project is about the development of a application to aid deafblind people with time understanding. The application is written in C# language and have multiple functions to alarm the user. The application can alarm deafblind persons through a combination of sounds, pictures and vibrations. This makes the application very flexible and can be used by many different groups like deaf, blind and older people. This application have been evaluated by staff from Mo Gård resurscenter.

Det här arbetet handlar om att utveckla ett hjälpmedel för personer som lider av dövblindhet med en kognitiv nedsättning. Målet med projektet är att utveckla en applikation som ska hjälpa dessa personer med sin tidsuppfattning. Applikationen är skrivet i programmeringsspråket C# och har flera olika funktioner som ska ge användaren en tydligare uppfattning om tiden. Applikationens fördel är att den kan kombinera information via olika kommunikationsvägarna; visuellt, auditivt och taktilt. Det gör att applikationen är mycket flexibelt och att många olika målgrupper till exempel döva, blinda och äldre kan använda sig utav applikationen. Applikationen har utvärderats av Mo Gårds hemmets personal och har resulterat i positiv kritik.

Games in general and computer games in particular have now become a mainstream activity for young people in the industrialized nations. Sadly, people’s interaction with computer artifacts and games are mainly still limited to the visual and auditive modalities. This constrains the richness of our interaction with those artifacts, it constrains the possibilities of using those artifacts to communicate and build relations with others, and it excludes some people from using them at all. This thesis answers the questions of whether it’s possible to use haptics as a single modality for conveying information in computer games, if it’s possible to translate the standard interfaces of existing computer games into haptic interfaces, and if it can be accomplished with the technology used in the gamepads of current generation game consoles. It also contains a theoretical foundation for using haptics in game design and a new design method for analyzing the requirements of computer game interface modalities. A computer game prototype called Sightlence was developed in order to answer these questions. The prototype was developed in four iterative cycles of design, development, and evaluative play sessions. Four groups of people participated in the play sessions: graduate students, and teachers, specializing in games; people who are deafblind; people from the general population; and pupils from a national special needs school in Sweden for children with deafness or impaired hearing combined with severe learning disabilities, or congenital deafblindness. The prototypes were tested with usability techniques for measuring performance and learnability. The usability tests showed that Sightlence can be successfully learned by people from the general population while the pupils with cognitive development disorders from the special needs school would need additional support in the game in order to learn to handle the increased abstraction caused by the haptic interface. The thesis ends with discussion of the designed and developed artifact Sightlence. The discussion touches on the design process, the usability testing, and possible future research and development relevant for making haptics a fruitful tool and medium for designers and people.

With the enlightenment thought in the 18th century, progress of man’s development grew to something better. Throughout this era all the way to the 19th century, the thought that the human kind can develop and evolve was every man’s pursue. It was believed that with the help of education, deaf and blind people could be given a chance for a normal set of life. That given the right tools they could be removed from the outline of society and brought into the social world. Throughout this time-period there where two different active ways of education that inspired educationalists in Europe and America. The German school, which focused on the development and use of speech and the French school which taught and focused on the visual language, i.e. sign language. This report puts interest in the development of the Swedish teacher Elisabeth Nordin’s chosen education system and its results. It was essential to study the background of education and care for the deaf and blind, in order to understand its progress. Furthermore, it gives a comparison of Sweden’s development in this area. Presenting a result of which the system of education for deaf and blind has gone from crippling them, to enchanting them a life of independency.

Earlier studies of persons with deafness (D) and/or deafblindness (DB) have primarily focused on the mobility and communication problems. The purpose of the present study was to develop technology for monitoring aids to improve the ability of persons with D and/or DB to detect, identify, and perceive direction of events that produce sounds in their surroundings. The purpose was achieved stepwise in four studies. In Study I, the focus was on hearing aids for persons with residual low frequency hearing. In Study II-IV, the focus was on vibratory aids for persons with total D. In Study I, six signal processing algorithms (calculation methods) based on two principles, transposition and modulation, were developed and evaluated regarding auditory identification of environmental sounds. Twenty persons with normal hearing listened to 45 environmental sounds processed with the six different algorithms and identified them in three experiments. In Exp. 1, the sounds were unknown and the subjects had to identify them freely. In Exp. 2 and 3, the sounds were known and the subjects had to identify them by choosing one of 45 sounds. The transposing algorithms showed better results (median value in Exp. 3, 64%-69%) than the modulating algorithms (40%-52%) did, and they were good candidates for implementing in a hearing aid for persons with residual low frequency hearing. In Study II, eight algorithms were developed based on three principles, transposition, modulation, and filtration – in addition to No Processing as reference, and evaluated for vibratory identification of environmental sounds. The transposing algorithms and the modulating algorithms were also adapted to the vibratory thresholds of the skin. Nineteen persons with profound D tested the algorithms using a stationary, wideband vibrator and identified them by choosing one of 10 randomly selected from the list of 45 sounds. One transposing algorithm and two modulating algorithms showed better (p<0.05) scores than did the No Processing method. Two transposing and three modulating algorithms showed better (p<0.05) scores than did the filtering algorithm. Adaptation to the vibratory thresholds of the skin did not improve the vibratory identification results. In Study III, the two transposing algorithms and the three modulating algorithms with the best identification scores in Study II, plus their adapted alternative, were evaluated in a laboratory study. Five persons from Study II with profound D tested the algorithms using a portable narrowband vibrator and identified the sounds by choosing one of 45 sounds in three experiments (Exp. 1, 2, and 3). In Exp. 1, the sounds were pre-processed and directly fed to the vibrator. In Exp. 2 and 3, the sounds were presented in an acoustic test room, without or with background noise (SNR=+5 dB), and processed in real time. Five of the algorithms had acceptable results (27%-41%) in the three experiments and constitute candidates for a miniaturized vibratory aid (VA). The algorithms had the same rank order in both tests in the acoustic room (Exp. 2, and 3), and the noise did not worsen the identification results. In Study IV, the portable vibrotactile monitoring aid (with stationary processor) for detection, identification and directional perception of environmental sounds was evaluated in a field study. The same five persons with profound D as in Study III tested the aid using a randomly chosen algorithm, drawn from the five with the best results in Study III, in a home and in a traffic environment. The persons identified 12 events at home and five events in a traffic environment when they were inexperienced (the events were unknown) and later when they were experienced (the events were known). The VA consistently improved the ability with regard to detection, identification and directional perception of environmental sounds for all five persons. It is concluded that the selected algorithms improve the ability to detect, and identify sound emitting events. In future, the algorithms will be implemented in a low frequency hearing aid for persons with low frequency residual hearing or in a fully portable vibratory monitoring aid, for persons with profound D or DB to improve their ability to sense the environment.

Baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamos informacijos perdavimo akliesiems problemos. Aprašyti ir apibendrinti įvairių mokslininkų tyrimai taktilinių perdavimo įrenginių išradimų bei tobulinimo srityse. Šių tyrimų rezultatai išanalizuoti, atlikta palyginamoji analizė ir suformuluoti pagrindiniai tyrimo uždaviniai. Darbe pateikta aklųjų skaitymo aparato struktūrinė schema ir veikimas. Remiantis analizės išvadomis, atliktas informacijos nuskaitymo kokybės priklausomybės nuo raidžių dydžio, atstumo iki raidžių, apšviestumo bei kitų parametrų eksperimentinis tyrimas ir jo rezultatų įvertinimas. Eksperimento grafinis pateikimas atliktas naudojantis programiniu paketu „Microcal OriginPro 8��� ir ,, Microsoft Excel 2003“. Darbą sudaro 3 dalys; įvadas, išvados, literatūros sąrašas, priedai. Darbo apimtis – 53 puslapiai teksto be priedų, 37 iliustracijos, 7 lentelės, 20 bibliografinių šaltinių.
The final work presents the information transmission problems for blind persons. Research of a number of scientists in the area of invention and improvement of tactilic transmission devices are described and summarized. The results are analized, comparative analysis made and the main research tasks formulated. The structural scheme and operation of the reading device of blind persons is presented. The experimental research on information reading qualities dependance on the size of letters and the distance between the letters and camera, the level of light and other parameters is made based on conclusions of analysis, the results are evaluated. The software „Microcal OriginPro 8“ and ,, Microsoft Excel 2003“ is used for grafical presentation of the experiment. This work contains three sections: preface, conclusions, referentes list, annexes. The volume of work is 53 pages of text without annexes, 37 illiustration, 7 tables, 20 bibliography sources.

碩士
國立臺南大學
特殊教育學系重度障礙碩士班
103
The main purpose of this thesis is researching effects of deafblind teaching strategies to developments of communication skills from students who are deafblind. The method of research adopts qualitative action research using purposive sampling approach to select a blind and deaf student from a particular school as the research subject. The research collects communication corpus through the deafblind student participating in communication teaching activities and observe development progression of this deafblind student using colloquial language, finger language and laptop for deafblind to express. During the research, the researcher exchanges opinions with professors and teachers to adjust possible action strategies. In addition, two experts helped to take reliability and validity evaluation to maintain quality of action research. The results of development of deafblind student communication skills show that expressive ability of colloquial language from forced expression to developing habit of speaking ways, use of finger language from assisting way to remember unfamiliar words to port of extraction of vocabulary, expressive ability of laptop for deafblind from brailling and typing through verbatim tips to making good use of laptop for deafblind to find information to continue communication. The results of deafblind education teacher adopting deafblind teaching strategies in communication teaching activities show that coactive manipulation helps deafblind student establish sense of distancing, resonance phenomenon strategies and imitation instructional strategies can help deafblind student improve problems of communication obstacles, sequential memory strategies help deafblind student establish concept of time and word order, and conversational communication strategies provide endless communication topics. The deafblind teaching strategies in communication teaching activities can make win-win situation between teachers and deafblind students.

碩士
國立臺南大學
特殊教育學系碩士在職專班
104
This study was designed to investigate the difficulties the deafblind college students encountered in communication and other needs. The research is qualitative oriented, with in-depth interviews, to gather information from deafblind college students about the difficulties in university life and communication with others. The results showed that: I.The difficulties the deafblind college students encountered in communication are: (A)cognitive learning gap: insufficient vocabulary concepts, lack of understanding or limited capability of abstract ideas; they are not able to equip themselves with the ability of attending college. (B)lack of life experience: limited living area, lack of everyday experience, absolutely empiricist. (C)influence of their own obstacle traits: inappropriate physical contact, self-centered conversation with others, imperative communication, closed communication and representation. (D)restriction of time: multiple communication pipeline but time consuming, need to clarify the dialogue, elongated communication time. II.The demands and requirements of the deafblind college students encountered in communication are: (A)Requirements of learning: problem-solving ability, given the freedom to explore and experience real life situations, teaching the ability of planning organization. (B)Demand of assisting aids on: theme communication board, improve accessibility to network interface, verbal decode of the radio messages from the assisting aids. (C)Other Requirements: connect to social communities, personal assistance, problems of social construction. This study aims to enhance the public's understanding of the deafblind, and the communication difficulties encountered by the demand of the limited connection between the deafblind and real world. It is hoped that the research will be beneficial to the future interactive communication between deafblind people and others.

Group-level differences in classroom language environments were analyzed to better understand implementation of best practices with learners with deafblindness (DB), and whether state certification practices, student characteristics or specialized training related to differences in adult language modeling. Participants came from four states with three distinct teacher certification policies. Data was collected from 15 teacher-student dyads through behavioral coding of videotaped language samples from classrooms, teacher surveys and Communication Matrix assessments. In our sample, teachers used verbal communication significantly more than additional classroom staff. Teachers in a state that required a severe/ profound certification used significantly higher rates of visual communication. These teachers were also the most likely to match their students’ expected receptive modalities. Classroom staff in a state with interveners used significantly more tactile communication with learners. Overall, teachers were more likely to match their students’ expected receptive modalities when the students had higher levels of communication. The students with DB were highly heterogeneous and there was no association between level of dual sensory loss and students’ expressive communication levels. Discussion focused on whether our current use of communication modalities are sufficient, or whether more diverse language modeling (i.e., augmented input) would be beneficial in classrooms with learners with DB. These quantitative results can empower teachers to advocate for the use of specific communication modalities, such as American Sign Language, and trained personnel, such as interveners, in their districts.

Abstract: Identification of, and responsiveness to, the communicative attempts of children with developmental delays’ is essential to developing intentional, symbolic communication. The current study was a replication of Keen, Sigafoos, and Woodyatt’s 2005 study titled Teacher Responses to the Communicative Attempts of Children With Autism, with modifications to the participants used in the study. The Inventory of Potential Communicative Acts (IPCA; Sigafoos et al, 2000) was used with three teachers of three children with deafblindness to determine if teachers were able to identify potential communicative acts (PCAs) of their students using the IPCA during an interview session. Additionally, analysis of teacher responsiveness to student PCAs took place during a 30-minute classroom observation session. All three teachers identified a wide range of student PCAs during the IPCA interview and showed high levels of responsiveness to those PCAs during the naturalistic, classroom observation. Low interobserver agreement, clinical implications, and directions for future research are discussed.
text

Traditionally vocational rehabilitation has as its goal providing services to support individuals with disabilities to achieve outcomes that relate to employment and independent functioning so that they may live self-sufficient and empowered lives. The current research discusses models of empowerment among varied marginalized groups identifying its components and dimensions, but little is known about how learners perceive and experience empowerment. This qualitative case study brought the voices of 18 adult learners who are deaf-blind into the conversation and examined the instructional practices and experiences that were reportedly empowering among learners while participating in vocational rehabilitation. The study revealed learners’ interpretations of their experiences, motivations, insights, and challenges during their vocational rehabilitation journey. The study illuminated how learners perceived empowerment and identified six elements of the experience. In addition, learners shed light on six elements of the learning context that were worthy of consideration among learners and practitioners for optimizing the learning experience. Emergent themes surfaced regarding the relationship between empowerment-based practice and transformative learning. The change reportedly undergone by learners encompassed the whole person: affective, cultural, social, practical, political, and spiritual domains. Preliminary investigation into the distinctive pathways to empowerment among deaf-blind adult learners provided a unique perspective by learners on how they made meaning and navigated their new reality of combined vision and hearing loss. Recommendations to practitioners and learners are derived from the 18 voices of learners who participated in the study. The study also revealed a need to further investigate the link between transformative learning and empowerment-based practice and how these two theoretical frameworks might inform one another with implications for practice.

The diploma thesis deals with development and education in families with a child with dual sensory impairment, namely, from mother's point of view. The objective is to analyse stories of selected mothers of children with this particular disability, to explore the course of development and education involving deafblind children from different points of view (pedagogical, psychological etc.). The author of this thesis tries to find out about mothers' experiences and models of behaviour during pregnancy and afterwards. It focuses on acceptance of the disabled child within (and possibly outside) the family. In addition, the thesis explores reactions of mothers and others to a child with disability, it outlines the subsequent course of development and education in various periods of life. The particular emphasis is put on specific ways, by which these mothers developed their children during different activites (plays, conpensatory senses development, communication system development, independence of deafblind children etc.). It also describes developmental delays (emotional, social and cognitive functioning). Education options for deafblind are also mentioned. The stories are then compared to each other, as well as to selected literature from different countries. At the end of this thesis, practical...