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Tactile Working Memory Scale a Professional Manual by Tactile Working Memory Scale
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Working memory, or the ability to keep something in mind for a limited amount of time is a central function in cognition. The Tactile Working Memory Scale manual gives a theoretical overview and presents a scale that can be used by professionals to identify and assess tactile working memory in a bodily-tactile perspective. It also provides tactile perceptual, cognitive and social cognitive strategies to improve and promote individual potentials through the sense of touch.
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... "Assessment of children who are deafblind should include functional vision and hearing evaluations to augment information from the audiology and ophthalmology reports" (Bruce et al., 2018, p. 86). Besides, the functional vision and hearing assessment must include assessment of brain related visual and hearing loss (i.e., CVI and APD) when suspected (Nicholas et al., 2019). The term brain related visual and hearing loss is used "when a neurological impairment is affecting the normal functioning of vision and hearing, due to central damage to the visual and auditory processing areas in the brain" (Saunders andEcht, 2012, p. 1044). ...
... A dynamic assessment approach (sandwich format) that uses test measures during the pretest phase and specific cognitive/ metacognitive instructions during the training phase could provide useful information on whether a child who is deafblind would benefit from a cognitively-based structuring procedure. Accordingly, the recent work of Nicholas et al. (2019) link the assessment and intervention of working memory in the tactile modality through a dynamic assessment approach. Tactile working memory can be described as the ability to keep relevant tactile information in mind for a limited amount of time using active touch and is "involved in the storage and retrieval of information about objects that people explore using active touch and motion" (Gallace and Spence, 2009, p. 394). ...
... The dynamic assessment of tactile working memory considers the optimization of the physical environment (i.e., the learning context), the social environment (i.e., partner competences), and the mediation of effective tactile learning strategies (i.e., perceptual, cognitive and social cognitive strategies) within the assessment. Moreover, this dynamic assessment procedure emphasizes a multi-informant and ecological neuropsychology approach (Nicholas et al., 2019). ...
The overall goal of a cognitive assessment is to improve communication, learning, and quality of life for a child who is deafblind. This article will give a brief description and perspective on different evaluation approaches as a basis for reliable cognitive assessments and offer suggestions on how to improve the quality of a cognitive assessment in our clinical practice. The assessor should be aware of the limitations of norm-referenced tests if standardized normative measures are applied to evaluate the cognitive functions of a child who is deafblind. However, if engaging a child with deafblindness in a standardized normative assessment, special considerations and assessment concessions would be required. Furthermore, key issues on how to improve the quality of a cognitive assessment by affording multiple assessment pathways for cognitive assessments will be addressed. Particular attention is given to the following assessment approaches: multi-method, multi-informant assessment, ecological assessment, and dynamic assessment. The use of multiple assessment pathways is necessary to reveal the genuine cognitive abilities and potentials of a child with deafblindness.
... The cortical representation of the abdominal wall and trunk is small compared to the face, hand, and limbs; This was initially demonstrated in Penfield's and Rasmussen's electrostimulation studies [16] (See Fig. 1 for a representation of the motor homunculus). Further evidence supporting that the abdominal area of the homunculus is smaller compared to other areas is provided by a recent intraoperative study that stimulated 608 sites in the precentral gyrus in 100 patients and did not identify the abdominal area of the homunculus [17] [February 2021 E-mail from author FE Roux; unreferenced]. ...
Unilateral abdominal wall clonic seizures are a rare manifestation of epilepsy. We report three cases of focal aware seizures manifesting as unilateral abdominal clonic motor movements. Standard EEG for patients with focal motor abdominal seizures is often unrevealing, which can make the diagnosis difficult. We report the first case of intracranial EEG in the diagnosis of a patients with this type of seizure. In the absence of ictal video-EEG monitoring, caution should be made with the diagnosis, and a careful history should distinguish between unilateral abdominal clonic jerking and other abdominal complaints.
The paper focuses on the problem of organization and content of education of children from two to eight years old with Severe multiple disabilities SMD. The research relevance is conditioned by the fact that such children start attending educational institutions from an early age. However, the methods and techniques of teaching children with SMD are underrepresented in scientific research. The research involves 120 children from two to eight years old with various combinations of visual, hearing, intellectual, motor, speech, and behavior disorders. The experimental work was conducted in Sergiev Posad boarding school for deaf-blind children and young adults. The research methods include the analysis of medical and pedagogical documentation, structured observation, method of expert evaluations, and pedagogical experiments. The experimental study of the peculiarities of development of actions with objects in children with different combinations of sensory, intellectual, motor, and other impairments highlighted the criteria for assessing the child’s ability to act with objects appropriately. Varying levels of development of children’s abilities to appropriately act with familiar objects were described and implemented in the individual educational programs. The research results show a connection between the ability to act appropriately with familiar objects, the child’s age, and the duration of the learning experience. The authors reveal the correlation between the success in daily living skills and the level of actions with objects. Thus, the results indicate the necessity of paying special attention to the development of object matter activity in work with children with SMD. It makes the world clearer and more accessible for the child. It makes the child as independent as possible, and it improves the quality of life of the child and his or her family. For the first time, it was concluded that the formation of the ability to act appropriately with objects in a child and his or her understanding of the action should become primary components of educational programs for children with SMD. This conclusion was considered in the new educational program for children with SMD, recommended for all educational institutions in Russia.KeywordsMultiple disabilitiesPreschool ageObject matter activityEvaluation criteriaLevels of object matter activity developmentIndividual educational program
Differentiation between self-produced tactile stimuli and touch by others is necessary for social interactions and for a coherent concept of “self.” The mechanisms underlying this distinction are unknown. Here, we investigated the distinction between self- and other-produced light touch in healthy volunteers using three different approaches: fMRI, behavioral testing, and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) at spinal and cortical levels. Using fMRI, we found self–other differentiation in somatosensory and sociocognitive areas. Other-touch was related to activation in several areas, including somatosensory cortex, insula, superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, striatum, amygdala, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex. During self-touch, we instead found deactivation in insula, anterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal gyrus, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, and prefrontal areas. Deactivation extended into brain areas encoding low-level sensory representations, including thalamus and brainstem. These findings were replicated in a second cohort. During self-touch, the sensorimotor cortex was functionally connected to the insula, and the threshold for detection of an additional tactile stimulus was elevated. Differential encoding of self- vs. other-touch during fMRI correlated with the individual self-concept strength. In SEP, cortical amplitudes were reduced during self-touch, while latencies at cortical and spinal levels were faster for other-touch. We thus demonstrated a robust self–other distinction in brain areas related to somatosensory, social cognitive, and interoceptive processing. Signs of this distinction were evident at the spinal cord. Our results provide a framework for future studies in autism, schizophrenia, and emotionally unstable personality disorder, conditions where symptoms include social touch avoidance and poor self-vs.-other discrimination.
Vast literature exists detailing the identification and management of central auditory processing disorder in children: however, less information is available regarding central auditory processing disorder in the adult population. This study aimed to document the diagnostic and management procedure for adults presenting at a multidisciplinary clinic due to concerns regarding their listening and central auditory processing skills. This retrospective study was a case file audit of two adults (a male, aged 37 years and a female, aged 44 years) who presented at a multidisciplinary (audiology and speech pathology) clinic for a hearing and central auditory processing evaluation. Both participants completed a case history questionnaire and were then interviewed with results being documented in their file. Participants were evaluated by a dually qualified audiologist-speech pathologist on a battery of peripheral hearing tests (including pure-tone threshold audiometry, immittance measures and speech tests), central auditory processing assessments (including monaural low redundancy, dichotic listening and temporal processing tests) and evaluation of short-term auditory memory skills. Participants were self-referred, never having been assessed previously for central auditory processing disorder, yet had perceived heightened difficulty with processing information; having conversations (particularly in noisy work or social environments) and remembering information, resulting in a range of psychosocial responses. Following diagnosis of central auditory processing disorder, participants undertook an individualized short-term aural rehabilitation program as dictated by their needs and preferences. Post-program participants perceived better ability to listen and process information even in adverse listening conditions. They reported that their newly learned skills improved their work abilities and social participation leading to positive outcomes. Medical and other allied health professionals should consider the possibility of presentation of central auditory processing disorder in adulthood and make appropriate referrals for central auditory processing testing to facilitate diagnosis and appropriate intervention. Aural rehabilitation should be considered for adults newly diagnosed with central auditory processing disorder.
A subclass of C fibre sensory neurons found in hairy skin are activated by gentle touch [1] and respond optimally to stroking at ∼1–10 cm/s, serving a protective function by promoting affiliative behaviours. In adult humans, stimulation of these C-tactile (CT) afferents is pleasant, and can reduce pain perception [2]. Touch-based techniques, such as infant massage and kangaroo care, are designed to comfort infants during procedures, and a modest reduction in pain-related behavioural and physiological responses has been observed in some studies [3]. Here, we investigated whether touch can reduce noxious-evoked brain activity. We demonstrate that stroking (at 3 cm/s) prior to an experimental noxious stimulus or clinical heel lance can attenuate noxious-evoked brain activity in infants. CT fibres may represent a biological target for non-pharmacological interventions that modulate pain in early life. Gursul et al. find that gentle stroking of the skin at a frequency that stimulates C-fibre sensory neurons relieves pain in infants.
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to review and discuss theories of working memory with special attention to their relevance to language processing.
Method: We begin with an overview of the concept of working memory itself and review some of the major theories. Then, we show how theories of working memory can be organized according to their stances on 3 major issues that distinguish them: modularity (on a continuum from domain-general to very modular), attention (on a continuum from automatic to completely attention demanding), and purpose (on a continuum from idiographic, or concerned with individual differences, to nomothetic, or concerned with group norms). We examine recent research that has a bearing on these distinctions.
Results: Our review shows important differences between working memory theories that can be described according to positions on the 3 continua just noted.
Conclusion: Once properly understood, working memory theories, methods, and data can serve as quite useful tools for language research.
Low readability is a main concern regarding communication with persons with congenital deafblindness (Nafstad & Rødbroe, 2015). This is because most of the expressions come from the bodily-tactile modality and are often based on tactile iconicity. It is difficult for a seeing and hearing partner to understand these expressions from the perspective of cultural language. The goal of this qualitative study is to show the emergence of sign constructions based on heightened tactile perception (Borchgrevink, 2002; Nicholas, 2004). Two videos, each showing one of two participants with congenital deafblindness, were subjected to qualitative micro-analysis. A key focus of this research concerns the combination of exploration and cognitive processing indicated by self-addressed expressions, and how this combination contributes to sign constructions. The linguistic quality of these sign constructions is further examined by detailing handshape, movement and location according to the work by Stokoe, 1960 and Bellugi & Klima, 2001. The results provide support for the proposition of a new sign category based on heightened tactile perception. https://doi.org/10.21827/jdbsc.4.31373
In deafblind studies it is commonly and usefully advised that partners interact close and face-to-face with children with congenital deafblindness. While recognizing face-to-face as an important mode of interaction this paper advances the simple idea that an equally important form of togetherness is body-with-body. Body-with-body interactions are here understood as interactions where two bodies are aligned with each other: the paradigmatic form is where the back of the child is aligned with the stomach and chest of his partner. I argue that this mode of togetherness can enable agency for a child with CDB through making as good as possible the conditions for perception and cognition. The body-with-body mode will make possible perception of the partners body in action; perception of some of the partners emotions; enable joint attention; enable skill acquisition and use of equipment, and finally enhance distal perception. https://doi.org/10.21827/jdbsc.4.31374
This article is based on the master thesis “Contributing to a Bodily/Tactile Language by Transforming Cultural Customs: - A case study of Partners Communicative Accommodations in Socialised Praxises based on a Bodily/Tactile Modality and its Influences on a Bodily/Tactile Culture” (Lindström, 2017). The study is an ethnographic case study, based on a theoretical framework of language and culture. The case study involves a person with congenital deafblindness and ten of his care workers. A cultural perspective was used as a way to describe the transformation of customs the care workers have to do to accommodate from their seeing/hearing perspective into a shared bodily/tactile modality. The transformation revealed different bodily/tactile strategies that the caregivers used together with the person with congenital deafblindness. The case study was conducted in a longitudinal perspective using ten video clips within the same case study. The video clips were transcribed and analysed using an applied theme-based analysis in the search for categories and themes that could help reveal the customs and accommodations. The results of this study indicated several strategies that the care workers used together with the person with congenital deafblindness to transform customs in visual sign language into a bodily/tactile communication. The strategies consisted of different body alignments, (hand-over-hand) positions, turn taking markers, the directing of hand and bodies in the conversation, touch and positions from the peripheral partner, the use of objects in the conversation, Martin’s body as an articulation place, haptic signals, back and forth articulation, different tempo and rhythm as well as repetitions. https://doi.org/10.21827/jdbsc.5.32574
This exploratory study conducts a quantitative investigation on the communication development of students with congenital deafblindness (CDB). First, a layered communication model (LCM) is introduced, describing communicative behaviors based on three layers of intersubjective development for typically developing children (Bråten & Trevarthen, 2007). Subsequently, an analysis is made of how applicable the LCM is for children with CDB. Video recordings of four dyads of students with CDB with varying developmental ages and their teachers are coded using ten-second partial interval coding. The presence of LCM behaviors, the student and teacher contributions to communication, and the development over a half-year period are described and compared between dyads. The results reflected the developmental differences between dyads. At the primary layer, all behaviors occurred a comparable number of times between dyads, which confirms that this is a basic communication layer. Quantitative differences between dyads were encountered between and within the secondary and tertiary layers. Teacher contribution was higher for students with lower developmental ages compared to students with higher developmental ages. Also, teacher contribution was higher for the secondary and tertiary layer behaviors of the LCM compared to the primary layer behaviors. No increase was found in the behaviors over the half-year period. Results suggest that the LCM can be used to gain insight into the communication level of a dyad, hereby paving the way for intervention studies to improve communication development.
Objective: This study was to identify whether working memory (WM) can be clearly subdivided according to auditory and visual modality. To do this, we administered the most recent and universal clinical WM measures in a mixed psychiatric sample. Methods: A total of 115 patients were diagnosed on the basis of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and with MINI-Plus 5.0, a structured diagnostic interview. WM subtests of Korean version of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV and Korean version of Wechsler Memory Scale-IV were administered to assess WM. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to observe whether WM measures fit better to a one-factor or two-factor model. Results: CFA results demonstrated that a two factor model fits the data better than one-factor model as expected. Conclusion: Our study supports a modality model of WM, or the existence of modality-specific WM systems, and thus poses a clinical significance of assessing both auditory and visual WM tests.