Multi-sensory impaired children in hospital - Sense

SymbolsSeeing their surroundings plays an important part in motivatingmost children to learn to move independently. Sight also motivateschildren to learn to use their hands. This is very important for childrenwith MSI, who generally need to use their hands much more in exploring,learning and communicating than sighted hearing children do.Learning to explore their surroundings helps children tounderstand and learn to control them. MSI reduces children’s abilityto anticipate events – to know what is likely to happen next and thismakes exploration harder. Children with MSI often have understandabledifficulties generalising skills and knowledge from one situation toanother because they don’t see the similarities and differences betweenthem.Children with MSI cannot learn by watching what happens aroundthem, as sighted hearing children do. MSI makes children learn moreslowly, because they get information that is of poorer quality.This does not mean that they necessarily have cognitive learningdifficulties. Learning through touch is much slower than learningthrough sight, and understanding visual or auditory information takesmore time when you have a sight or hearing impairment.Pictures and symbols copyright Widget Software 200714 267