Movement and Fundamental Motor Skills for Sensory Deprived Children.

Movement and Fundamental Motor Skills for Sensory Deprived Children The treatment of children who have sensory deprivation is one of the most difficult tasks facing the therapeutic community, primarily because the degree of involvement can be overwhelming and because the individuality from child to child is so diverse that generalized guidelines are practically impossible to make. This short book offers a set of guidelines to those who teach motor skills to children who have sensory deprivation. It covers the definition and characteristics of deaf-blindness, roles of parents and physical education teachers in the care of children with this disability, developmental theories related to educational approaches, motor skills development in children who are deaf-blind or have other visual impairments, evaluation scales for motor skills, and service and delivery systems.

The authors include only those children with visual and auditory handicaps, excluding those with significant mental retardation or cerebral palsy. Although the book is written for motor skills teachers, large sections of the book directly address parents. The information is relevant but appears out of context with the authors' stated purpose. The definitions of sensory impairments are concise and in general are correct. The presentation of developmental theories related to educational approaches and motor skills development is extremely superficial and should be used only as an outline for further study. The guidelines given for the establishment of a motor-development program also are general. The evaluation check lists are creative. Although they would not meet the individualized and incremental standards of physical therapy practitioners, they do provide an effective means for teachers to record progress. Their best application is as a list of activities for a motor program.

This book would be of little benefit to physical therapy practitioners with the following exceptions: It would be a good guideline for further study for therapists who have no background in pediatrics, and its evaluation check lists would be a good resource tool in developing activities for a motor class for higher-functioning children who have sensory deprevation.