The Deaf, Sign Langague, and Spatial Cognition; by Jennifer Milner, March 22, 2002

Potential Effects on Learning

Perhaps most importantly, spatial abilities give one a better sense of their surroundings. Children and adults with a heightened spatial ability are better able to safely move through their physical environment. (Nilges and Usnick, 2000) This is obviously an important skill for deaf children who don't have the advantage of hearing potential obstacles or dangers.

Spatial abilities also help children to better understand math. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics identifies these abilities as an important perquisite to understanding geometry: "Children who develop a strong sense of spatial relationships and who master the concepts and language of geometry are better prepared to learn number and measurement ideas, as well as other advanced mathematical topics" (NCTM, 2002).

While enhanced spatial abilities have been shown to improve performance in mathematics, deaf children often don't do as well as hearing children in this area. Research has found that incorporating spatial skills into the mathematics education can improve the performance of deaf children. For instance, a software program implemented in several schools in London that incorporates visual and spatial processing into typical math problems was found to help deaf children better understand the underlying concepts (Nunes and Moreno, 2002). Multidisciplinary approaches connecting physical education and mathematics might also increase spatial ability because "the selection, processing, and organization of spatial information are critical for success in each discipline" (Nilges and Usnick, 2000). Similar programs are also being developed in other disciplines like science.Such additions to curriculum and could give deaf children a chance to use their spatial abilities to overcome academic hurdles and could also offer hearing children chances to improve their spatial cognition.

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