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^ jHilEBcfaoBa! Activities for ^ Visually Handicapped 3 Preschoolers ^ ^ ProjectAuthors JENNIFER G. GUELDA CATHERINE B. ROBINSON Copyright © 1991 Ali rights reserved HUM I AmericanPrintingHousefortheBlind P.O.Box 6085 KY Louisville, 40206-0085 APH Staff: Sheri B. Moore, ProjectDirector Karen J. Poppe, Editor & Layout Design Project Assistant Tobey T. Burton, CoverDesign Project Assistant FrederickOtto, Project Assistant TomPoppe, Illustrator/Pattern Maker Hands On: Functional Activities for Visually Handicapped Preschoolers Copyright ©1991 American Printing House forthe Blind CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hi FOREWORD v INTRODUCTION 1 OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES 9 ACTIVITY SECTION 15 PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES 17 DRY TRANSFER 21 WETTRANSFER 35 STRINGING 47 FOLDING 55 CLIPPING 59 TWISTING 65 SORTING 81 CARE OFTHEPERSON 89 CARE OFTHEENVIRONMENT 101 FOOD PREPARATION 115 WORK BENCH ACTIVITIES 125 ART 135 GRACE AND COURTESY 145 APPENDIXES 157 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY TO "SKILLS ATA GLANCE" 157 APPENDIX LETTERTO PARENT B: 161 APPENDIX C: RECORDKEEPING CHART 165 APPENDIX D: HARD-TO-FINDITEMS 169 APPENDIX FURTHERREADING E: 173 APPENDIX F: MONTESSORIRESOURCES 177 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors and the staffatthe AmericanPrinting House for the Blindwould like to acknowledge the individuals and agencies who contributed toHANDS ON: FunctionalActivitiesfor Visually HandicappedPreschoolers by participating as: Formative Evaluators: Melinda Adkins, Visually ImpairedPreschool, Louisville, KY. Patty Dilg, Kentucky Schoolforthe Blind, Louisville, KY. Venus Elder, AmericanPrinting Housefor the Blind, Louisville, KY. PaulettaFeldman, Visually ImpairedPreschool, Louisville, KY. DianeHaynes, Kentucky Deaf/BlindInterventionProgram, Louisville, KY. Jeannette Jacobs, Jefferson CountyPublic School, Louisville, KY. Debbie Ramsey, Jefferson CountyPublic School, Louisville, KY. Teacher Field Evaluators: Debbie Alvarado, Dallas Services forVisually Impaired Children, Dallas TX. Sandy Bryant, GovernorMoreheadPreschool forthe Visually Impaired, Raleigh, NC. Martha Chambers, New Mexico School forthe Visually Handicapped, Albuquerque, NM. Phyllis A. Cole, DeKalb County School System, Atlanta, GA. *Carol Danielson, Dallas Services forVisually ImpairedChildren, Dallas, TX. Sally Dietz, Lighthouse fortheBlind, New York, NY. *Betty Dominguez, New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped, Albuquerque, NM. Julie Founder, Alabama School fortheBlind, Talladega, AL. J. Greeley, AnchorCenterforBlind Children, Denver, CO. *SandraHandy, Utah School for the Blind, Ogden, UT. BarbaraHadfield, Utah School forthe Blind, Ogden, UT. *Debbie Hatton, Preschool Services forthe Visually Impaired, Raleigh, NC. Judy Hayes, Alabama School forthe Blind, Talladega, AL. Betty Knight, Alabama School fortheBlind, Talladega, AL. Camille Lancaster, GovernorMoreheadPreschool forthe Visually Impaired, Raleigh NC. , EileenMauerman, Utah School fortheBlind, Ogden, UT. Susie Moushegian, Dallas Services forVisually Impaired Children, Dallas, TX. Marianne O'Conner, St. Lucy's Day School, Philadelphia, PA. Kathy Peterson, New Mexico School forthe Visually Handicapped, Albuquerque, NM. MaureenRyder, Lighthouse forthe Blind, NewYork, NY. *Kathy Scott, Capital AreaIntermediateUnit, Summerdale, PA. Charlyn Sirman, DeKalb County School System, Atlanta, GA. Rose Anna Stillwagon, Capital Area Intermediate Unit, Summerdale, PA. Ann Timashenka, Capital Area IntermediateUnit, Shiremanstown, PA. *MarthaWaites, Alabama School forthe Blind, Talladega, AL. * (Selected the participating teachers at the site; did notactually field testin aclassroom setting.) Hi Expert Reviewers: Special thanks to four-year-old ScottyMooreforposing forthephotographs which laterservedas models forthe line drawings ofmany oftheHANDS ONactivities. IV fXsD FOREWORD C**0 My blind son Jamie, whois now almost six years old, attendedKenwoodMontessori Preschool in Louisville, Kentucky from the ages ofthree through five. His experiences and thoseofhis teachers at Kenwood became the basis for this manual. When itwas time forJamie toenterpreschool, I visited several schools to observe and talk to teachers. There were schools that wouldnotconsiderhaving a blind student. There were others which were willing to try. Butin general, the schools I visited seemed to me to be "impoverished," especially fora blindchild. I feltthatthey didnotofferenough hands-on, practical learning opportuni- ties and they seemed to be so visual inorientation. From what Iknew aboutMontessorieducation, I thoughtit mightbe perfectforJamie's needs. Originally, Dr. Montessori haddevelopedherteaching methods and materials forhandicapped children. I lovedthe philosophy thatthe handinforms the mind, thatplay is theworkofthechild, and thatthe childgrows through theprocess ofperforming a task. In the Montessoriclassroom, children didnotjustpretendtogoaboutthe activities ofcooking, cleaning, and caring forthemselves and theirenvironment; they actually did thesethings, from all sorts ofwashingjobs topre- paring foods for snacks and special occasions. The classroom was continuously evolving according to a carefully planned sequence; activities were always being enhanced so thatthey didnot become boring, andinsteadbecame more challenging andenabled thechildren to build and expand their skills. I contacted KenwoodMontessori, whereJennie Guelda andLenore Crenshaw were teachers and co- directors. They were very excited abouttheprospectofhaving a blind child in theirclass and sawit as a learning opportunity, both forthemselves andforthe children ofthe school. They came toour home to meetJamie on his "own turf' and we began brainstorming about how to make his school experiences successful. They set aside aweek before the startofschool forJamie to come fora short period each day to becomeoriented tothe classroom and for themto observe his interests and special needs as a blind student. Iattended also, so thatthey could see how I worked with Jamie. Eventually, I became ateaching assistant atthe school. Kaki Robinson, who was afriendofJennie's andhad been aMontessori teacherfor20years, was working on herMasters Degree during Jamie's firstyear atKenwood. She wanted todo aresearch projecton adapting Montessori methods and materials forthe blindchild andJamie became her "guineapig." Every Tuesday, Kaki would show up at school with greatnew activities that she had adapted especially forJamie andwould work with him tirelessly andoh, sopatiently. Even when herresearchproject was completed, Kakicontinued to come to school each Tuesday to work with Jamie. She became a very special friend. Many ofthe activities in this manual werefavorites ofJamie's. They were also favorites ofmany of the children in his class. They are filled with natural appeal forchildren, because they satisfy their desires forindependence andself-perfection. The children wouldperform these tasks again and again, each time becoming more self-confident, more skillful, more self-directed. They are not activities that mustbe done by the child in isolation fromotherchildren. Many lend themselves to small grouporside-by-side play. However, I feel that itis importanttorememberthat the blind child,just as any child in aclass, shouldhave the opportunity to work alone at times, andto concentrate on a task withoutinterruption fromothers. This is away the childcanexperiencehis own mistakes, correct themhimself, and become independent Finally, the activities are greatforparents todo at homewith theirchild, since most aremade upof simple, easy-to-find, inexpensive items. During Jamie's preschool years, Iwas fortunate enoughto beable tobe there everyday to see him grow andprogress. Forallofus, teachers and motherandchild, theyears atKenwoodprovided wonderfulopportunities forcreativity andadaptability. We alllearned agreatdeal together! Ihope ourexperiences will benefityou andyourchildren. Pauletta Feldman February, 1990 VI INTRODUCTION Theyoung child's mostimportantgoal is to become independent. As adults in the lives ofvisu- ally impaired children we can help a child learn eitherdependence orindependence. For any child, sighted ornot, the daily living activities provide sequential, individual work thatwill help the child become independent. The philosophy in this manual comes from Dr. MariaMontessori and from ourexperience with ablindpreschoolermainstreamed into aclassroom of25 children ages 3-6. TheMontessori Daily Living activities in this manual are aguide toencouraging students to function independently in the classroomor athome. The workis presented sequentially, beginning withjobs such as pouring with beans andprogressing to morecomplicated tasks such as preparing snacks and washing thedishes. The careful demonstration ofthese activities helps the child develop a sense oforder, apositive self-image, concentration, coordination, andvisual motorcoordination, it helps the child learn to complete acycleofactivity as well. These activities can easily be incorpo- ratedinto any early childhoodsetting and are appropriate forthe followingpopulations: preschool children, kindergartenchildren, totally blindchildren, children with low vision, sighted children, hearing impaired children, mild ormoderately mentally handicappedchildren, and children with be- havior disorders. The Classroom orPlayroom During the normal courseofa day in theMontessori classroom, thechildren will move freely from centerto center. The classroom has child-size furnitureand low shelves for the work. This allows the child to makechoices andpromotes independence. In orderto maintain predictability about theroom, there are three things to beremembered. The firstis the division oftheroominto areas. The classroom is divided into centers and the room at home is divided intoplay space, sitting space, etc. Secondly, the activities should have adefinite place on the shelf. This helps the childchoose work more easily. The activities on the shelves should be placed according to the sequence ofmaterials as given in the outline that follows. They should go in aleft to right, top tobottom fashion. On thetop shelfcould be stringing work starting with pole stringing on theleft, large beads next, small beads and macaroni on theright. Though the individual activities will change, it helps forthe childtoknow that the top shelfwill always have stringing activities orthatthe bottom shelfis forart activities. Thirdly, the individualjobs themselves should beorganized so thereis aleft-to-right and atop-to-bottomprogression. An example of this is apolishingjob. The mirroris first, then the spray bottle, then thepolishing cloth arranged in the order ofwork. Theleft-to-rightsequence is indirectpreparation forreading and writing. Sense ofOrder When setting up daily living activities, the adultneeds to be aware thatthepurpose ofthese is notjustlearning specific skills, butguiding thechild towards more general skills thatwill helpher develop as a successful person. Children areconstantly making predictions abouttheirenvironment based on past experience. This is why theyoung child likes the security ofpredictability, whetherit . is the same story at bedtime or the sameroutine at school. This is particularly vital for avisually impaired child whoneeds consistency for orientation andhermobility. Concentration These activities aredesigned to help children develop their attention span and the ability to concentrate. The child should be allowed to do the work for as long as he wishes. The more interested he is in the work, the longer he will attendto it. The young childis more interested in process rather than product and will cheerfully wash the samedish many times. Some ofthe activities require deep concentration and all aredesigned tocapture his interest. Ifa child appears to be having trouble concentrating on a given task, first check to see thathis body is in a stable position and thathe is sitting straight in the chairwith his feettouching the floor. Coordination andMovement Improved coordination is anotherresultofdaily living activities. Any activity that wecreate for children should be appropriate fortheirage and fortheir functional development. Dr. Montessori refers to sensitive periods which all children experience. Sensitiveperiods are those times in children's lives when they are more ready to learn orpractice a given skill. Itis ourtask as adults to observe the children and to match an activity with theirdevelopmentalneeds. Any activity that the childrepeats can signal a sensitive stage. One important and lengthy period is the sensitive periodof movement, which begins before birth and goes to about age six. Montessori says, "Children are . . at an age when they are greatly interestedin movement and seemto be anxious to learn how they should move about. They are passing through thatepoch oftheirlives when they become masters of theirown actions." The children learn to go fromrandommovements, such as kicking theirlegs in the crib, to efficient andpurposeful movements, such as walking. Coordination generally progresses from large to small motordevelopment. The early activities require the use ofbig objects or using a utensil. As the children move through the sequence, they gain mastery overtheir body movements. DailyRoutines Generally, the class starts with a group presentation ofnew work. This is followed by the free choice period. At theendofthe day there is anothergroup for songs, stories, games, etc. followed by large motorplay. Independence The primary goal ofdaily living activities is to help the children become independent. Not only will they be able to dress themselves, wash dishes, and fix a snack, but they are on the way to becoming an independentlearner who can make choices, complete an activity, and function without adult interference. Independence allows children to feel good aboutthemselves and take pride in their work, because they know it is solely theirs. As adults, we need togive children the privilege of working through something forthemselves. A good rule ofthumb is neverdo forchildren whatthey