Tactual Profile

A comparison of sighted and visually impaired children’s text comprehension

“…This is in line with the literature on superior memory performance of participants with VI (Pring, 2008) as well as claims on the lower memory load of literal questions (Edmonds & Pring, 2006). With regards to the working memory, a recent study of Withagen, Kappers, Vervloed, Knoors, and Verhoeven (2013) finds that children with VI outperform their sighted counterparts at working memory tasks and shortterm memory tasks. Our study generalises this finding by providing evidence that children with VI show an overall better reader comprehender profile under auditory or reading presentation of the information.…”

“…Since, people with VI may rely more on their memory and attentional focus due to their lack of vision, one might hypothesize that better reading and listening comprehension may be a result of enhanced attentional and working memory capacities. Given that recent studies (e.g., Cattaneo & Vecchi, 2011;Withagen et al, 2013) report better performance by individuals with VI compared to their sighted counterparts in short-term and working memory tasks, it could be expected that participants with VI provide more answering from memory. Research shows that individuals with VI outperform their sighted cohorts in short-term and working memory tasks (Cattaneo & Vecchi, 2011;Withagen et al, 2013).…”

Haptic-2D: A new haptic test battery assessing the tactual abilities of sighted and visually impaired children and adolescents with two-dimensional raised materials

“…To date, two notable psychometric studies of haptic functioning in children who are visually impaired have been conducted from a developmental perspective. The first study was a research project carried out in the Netherlands by Withagen and colleagues (Withagen, Baerwaldt, Blok, Ekkens, Hamelink, & Vervloed, 2005;Withagen & Schellingerhout, 2004; see also Withagen, Vervloed, Janssen, Knoors, & Verhoeven, 2009). These authors developed and validated a psychometric instrument called the Tactual Profile, which assessed the tactual functioning of blind children from ages one to 15.…”

“…The resulting battery, named the Haptic-2D, uses 2D raised materials to assess the development of tactual abilities in sighted and visually impaired children and adolescents aged five to 18. Unlike previous applied studies, we were interested in measuring children's abilities to deal solely with 2D raised materials, as opposed to either 3D objects (e.g., Withagen et al, 2005) or a mixture of 3D and 2D tactile materials (e.g., . We focused on 2D materials because the development of tactual skills to deal with such materials is crucial for the daily activities and education of visually impaired children, but has never yet been the focus of a psychometric assessment.…”

Analysis of creative and logical-spatial skills in blind children and adolescents

“…The haptic modality, in addition to being assessed as a valid alternative to visual perception, was considered, as reported by Kirby and D'Angiulli (2011, p.67) referring to Arnheim (1990), the sensory modality most closely linked to dynamic perception, the basis of aesthetic experiences, and that which, by tangibly perceiving the interaction between space and shape, allows for the effective conveyance of expression. The deepening of the usefulness of this modality has led to the realization of the final item-set of TP (Tactual Profile) consisted of 430 items, graded according to age-level and divided in three tactual functioning domains (tactual sensory, tactual motor, and tactual perceptual), and one domain of practical skills (Withagen et al 2005) in which concrete objects were presented to evaluate the analyzed skills in Dutch children.…”