MULTI-SENSORY PATHWAYS TO PRE-NUMBER SKILLS AMONG DEAFBLIND LEARNERS

Dellilah Masayi, Joel W. Okutoyi, Micheal Charles Were

Abstract


Children learn to learn through their senses. Deafblind learners face significant challenges because they cannot fully rely on vision and hearing, so they need other ways to make sense of the world around them. This calls for strategies such as learning by doing. The study explored the multisensory learning approaches used by deafblind learners in the foundation stage while learning pre-number skills. Quantitative research approach and descriptive survey design were adopted. The target population comprised 52 deafblind learners and 28 teachers teaching pre-number skills in the foundation stage from five institutions for deafblind learners in Kenya. 44 learners and 25 teachers formed the sample population. Teachers' questionnaires were used as data-collection tools. The validity of the data collection tools was ensured through expert judgement, while reliability was assessed using the test-retest method. A correlation coefficient of .75 was confirmed. Before the study, informed consent and assent were acquired from the parents of the learners and teachers. Additionally, confidentiality and beneficence guided all interactions and data handling. The key findings of this study were that tactile sensory modality is the most adopted multisensory approach among deafblind learners, with exploring objects by touch recoded the highest mean, followed by the use of concrete materials, representing numbers using realia and manipulating objects being the least adopted tactile strategy while learning pre-number skills. The second most adopted multi-sensory strategy is kinesthetic, visual, and the least utilized is the auditory sensory modality. This study recommends intensive adoption of tactile and kinesthetic strategies during the learning of pre-number skills. Schools should also ensure the availability of manipulative and tactile resources, such as counting objects, textured materials, and real-life objects, to support experiential learning of pre-number concepts.

Keywords


multi-sensory strategies, pre-number, deafblind, mathematics, foundation learning

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v12i4.6704

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