Technology Assisted Active Learning: Aarna’s Case Study

Learners with severe intellectual disabilities, sensory loss and motor impairments need carefully designed interventions to help them develop the understanding that leads to a sense of well-being and the desire to learn more about the people and objects in their environments. Gradually, learners expand their experiential base to include new experiences and environments that are more complex. Consideration of three areas is essential for the development of coherence. • Active learning • Cognitive skill development • Semantic development Each of these areas, described below, presents unique challenges for learners with severe multiple disabilities. The case study described in this article examines the strategies for addressing these challenges, including the use of technology.

CHALLENGES

ACTIVE LEARNING Learners are active when they participate in an experience with the intent to move some part of their bodies to interact with something that is part of the experience. Active learning is important at any stage of learning, but it is crucial at the sensorimotor stage—birth to two years in typical development. Neurological evidence shows that motor responses increase brain activity to the levels required for long-term memory storage. Passive exposure during experiences stimulates short-term or working memory and is important for creating the alertness required for attention, but it is not sufficient for the assimilation and accommodation of in- formation that leads to the development of coherence (Moreau, 2012). A learner may like looking at the light emitted by an object as it moves in his visual field, but when the light goes away, he has not learned anything about the object or his relationship to it. In order for learning to occur, he must touch the object and try to do something with it. The motor responses necessary for long-term memory storage, the essential element of learning, do not require muscular execu- tion of movement. When learners mentally image desired movements, motor responses are sufficient for long-term memory stor- age. In other words, learning is active when movement is intended and imagined (Jeannerod, 2008). Early research using tomogra- phy to measure brain activity during motor events showed that activity was highest during the preparation and initiation stages of motor response and much less intense during the execution of response. More recently, the use of additional tools like functional MRIs to study motor cognition has led to the development of innovations such as robotic exoskeletons operated by mental imaging. Motor execution is highly desirable, but when it is not possible, learners may achieve coherence when teaching partners help them understand what is happening, so that they can think about what they want to do (Kappes and Morwedge, 2016). COGNITIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT Cognitive skills develop over time as learners actively participate in interactions with people and objects. Brain scans show that when environments provide the right conditions for high quality interactions, experiences build new neural networks in the brains of all individuals with some viable cortex, regardless of age or ability level (Menshew and Williams, 2007). Interactions are high quality for learners with severe multiple disabilities when they are highly motivating, consistent, repeated frequently and contain needed supports and accommodations. The cognitive skills that form the foundation for all learning emerge largely hierarchically from birth to two years in typically developing children: the period known as Piaget’s sensorimotor stage. For learners with severe multiple disabilities, opportunities to learn cognitive skills are an essential part of programs at any age. In highly effective interactions, learners develop new cogni- tive skills and/or strengthen existing skills by participating in experiences at higher levels and by expanding existing skills to new experiences (Ormrod, 2012). Cognitive skills develop when learners actively participate in activities. When actions are intentional, brain function is primarily cortical. During the reflexive movement period of very early infancy, brain function is primarily sub-corti- cal. Over time and under the right conditions, some reflexive behaviors become skills. Sensorimotor stage cognitive skills typically include the following (Parks, 2004): • Anticipation • Exploration • Object permanence • Cause and effect • Imitation • Tool use or means/ends • Spatial relationships Passive attention makes cognitive development possible because it creates the neurological conditions necessary for active

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