him when he didn't like being held. I found Dr.
Jan van Dijk's advice to teach to the emotional
brain and build connections to the cortices
from a Project Sparkle DVD fit perfectly with
facilitating engagement with Dylan and his
learning. (Alsop, 2002)
Now that Dylan is 17, I am again his Intervener
and his teacher in a home and community
based educational model supported by many
professionals. I take delight in showing him
new possibilities and the engagement we
share in these times.
Environment
The second thing I did was structure the environment to maximize Dylan's ability to access information, and to get a response. It is in a
safe and predictable environment that supported rather than overwhelmed his vision that
he gained control of himself and gained the
ability to venture into unpredictable environments. As a baby this started out in a "Little
Room" (see Nielsen, 1992) of sorts although I
didn't know it at the time. It was a play mat
with arches over the top where he could reach
the toys he liked; he bumped them and they
responded, but didn't go away. Later he rolled
around on this mat, moving it across the floor
and exploring the living room until eventually
he moved off the mat and into other rooms of
the house. I will note that if I did this now, I
would reduce complexity by providing solid
colors to increase Dylan's brains ability to look
and see due to his CVI.
In Dylan's "School-Home" classroom we have
very carefully structured the environment to
trigger his eyes to look and his brain to see, by
providing high contrast, reducing clutter, and
controlling the lighting to direct rather than distract his vision.
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