The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness, generalizability, and the permanency of the instruction with the touch math technique. Direct instruction was used to the instruction of the basic summation skills of the students with mild intellectual disabilities. A multiple probe design across the subjects was used in this study. The…

In three experiments (N = 48 3- to 4-year olds; 100 3- to 5-year olds; 54 4-year-olds), children who could see or feel a target toy, recognized when they had sufficient information to answer "Which one is it?" and when they needed additional access. They were weaker at taking the informative modality of access when the choice was between seeing…

In this article, the authors investigated unimodal and cross-modal processes in spatial working memory. A number of locations had to be memorized within visual or haptic matrices according to different experimental conditions known to be critical in accounting for the effects of perception on imagery. Results reveal that some characteristics of…

Watching a rubber hand being stroked by a paintbrush while feeling identical stroking of one's own occluded hand can create a compelling illusion that the seen hand becomes part of one's own body. It has been suggested that this so-called rubber hand illusion (RHI) does not simply reflect a bottom-up multisensory integration process but that the…

Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n = 60), children…

One hundred and thirty-three preclinical medical students participated in 24 focus groups over the period 2007-2009 at Durham University. Focus groups were conducted to ascertain whether or not medical students found body painting anatomical structures to be an educationally beneficial learning activity. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory…

In three studies, 12-month-old infants were familiarized either tactually or visually with objects and were then tested for visual recognition memory using either (1) the familiar and a novel object, (2) colored pictures of the objects, or (3) outline drawings of the objects. (Author/MP)

The assimilation and synthesis of knowledge is essential for students to be successful in chemistry, yet not all students synthesize knowledge as intended. The study used the Learning Preference Checklist to classify students into one of three learning modalities--visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (VAK). It also used the Kolb Learning Style…

This article describes a lesson plan model that applies principles of universal design for learning (UDL) and multisensory learning centers to the framework of a traditional direct instruction spelling lesson for elementary students with learning, social, and attention problems. It reviews essential components of UDL and demonstrates how to…

Research has suggested that perception and action are independent (see M. A. Goodale & A. Haffenden, 1998). The authors used the Ebbinghaus illusion to test this hypothesis in 2 experiments. Verbal reports of perceived size were compared with maximum grip aperture during grasping (Experiment 1) and manual reports of perceived size (Experiment 2).…

Results indicated that four-year-old children who viewed a television program did not demonstrate greater haptic ability to recognize and categorize shapes than did children not exposed to the program. Results also suggested that children's TV does not facilitate concrete operational thinking in shape recognition for preschoolers. (Author/DB)

The reinforcing properties of four sensory stimuli (continuous and flashing light, vibration, and sound), which were under the subject's control, were examined and the effect on stereotyped behavior of 24 severely retarded and autistic children were observed. Findings were interpreted to support the self-stimulation theory of stereotypy despite…

Infants ranging from 6 to 12 months were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) allowed to look at a specified object, (2) allowed to look at and manipulate it, or (3) allowed to look at the object and to manipulate the transparent box in which it was encased. (JMB)