CHILDREN WITH VISION IMPAIRMENT AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES: ISSUES OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND PROFESSIONALS’ CHALLENGES

Abstract

People with vision impairment and multiple disabilities (MDVI) constitute a population with an enormous heterogeneity due to the combination of various disabilities. Education of children with MDVI concerns different domains and it is considered one of the most demanding fields in Special Education as each student with MDVI has different needs and entails unique educational challenges. In specific, the development of communication skills of children with MDVI is a fundamental domain of their education which affects their learning and active participation in all sectors of life. As a result, professionals are very concerned in which way they can design and develop effective intervention programmes, in order to assess accurately children’s communication levels and in turn set realistic goals to consolidate and advance them. The present paper refers to an Erasmus+ project entitled “Promoting effective communication for Individuals with a Vision Impairment and Multiple Disabilities” (PrECIVIM) which acknowledges the need to train teachers in this field and bridges assessment and intervention for the development of communication skills for children with MDVI. The authors present and describe in this paper the following: a. the structure and the content of a training manual for the enhancement of teachers’ and professionals’ competences in communication skills of children with MDVI, and b. the training process, based on the developed training manual, in three countries (Greece, Cyprus and Romania) in different educational settings for children with MDVI. The obtained data regarding teachers’ and professionals’ feedback from the training process and their corresponding intervention programmes, revealed a range of good practices as well as concerns and challenges confirming the need of more focused training programmes regarding the education of children with MDVI. The authors conclude that the implementation of intervention programmes, when it comes to communication and levels of communication, depends significantly by a number of factors such as diagnosis, early intervention, system of support for professionals and families, assessment, teachers and professionals’ competences, effective use of technology, alternative and augmentative communication, environment, and so on. Finally, it is argued that the aforementioned issues, should be an integral part of a systematic educational policy for the provision of educational opportunities in terms of equality and inclusion for all children including children with MDVI.