Words of Appreciation and Praise for : APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ - A Revolutionary Breakthrough for Reading Disorders and Dyslexic Readers: Preparing Special Needs Learners for CCSS Success ...

Oct. 27, 2013                                                             

Dear  Rose Marie,

As Coordinator of the 18th annual Rockland Literacy Extravaganza held at St. Thomas Aquinas College, I would like to express great appreciation for presenting an excellent professional development workshop, " APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ - A Revolutionary Breakthrough for Reading Disorders and Dyslexic Readers: Preparing Special Needs Learners for CCSS Success..” Your focus on implementing instruction that will motivate, engage and increase achievement that supports the Common Core State Standards is very important. Evaluations were very  positive.

Your commitment and professionalism made a great contribution to the success of our conference.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael L. Shaw
Professor of Education, St. Thomas Aquinas College
Coordinator, Rockland Literacy Extravaganza Professional Conference

In Response to: The Upside of Dyslexia

The Upside of Dyslexia

By ANNIE MURPHY PAUL

Published: February 4, 2012

THE word “dyslexia” evokes painful struggles with reading, and indeed this learning disability causes much difficulty for the estimated 15 percent of Americans affected by it. Since the phenomenon of “word blindness” was first documented more than a century ago, scientists have searched for the causes of dyslexia, and for therapies to treat it. In recent years, however, dyslexia research has taken a surprising turn: identifying the ways in which people with dyslexia have skills that are superior to those of typical readers. The latest findings on dyslexia are leading to a new way of looking at the condition: not just as an impediment, but as an advantage, especially in certain artistic and scientific fields.

Dyslexia is a complex disorder, and there is much that is still not understood about it. But a series of ingenious experiments have shown that many people with dyslexia possess distinctive perceptual abilities. For example, scientists have produced a growing body of evidence that people with the condition have sharper peripheral vision than others. Gadi Geiger and Jerome Lettvin, cognitive scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used a mechanical shutter, called a tachistoscope, to briefly flash a row of letters extending from the center of a subject’s field of vision out to its perimeter. Typical readers identified the letters in the middle of the row with greater accuracy. Those with dyslexia triumphed, however, when asked to identify letters located in the row’s outer reaches.

Mr. Geiger and Mr. Lettvin’s findings, which have been confirmed in several subsequent studies, provide a striking demonstration of the fact that the brain separately processes information that streams from the central and the peripheral areas of the visual field. Moreover, these capacities appear to trade off: if you’re adept at focusing on details located in the center of the visual field, which is key to reading, you’re likely to be less proficient at recognizing features and patterns in the broad regions of the periphery.

The opposite is also the case. People with dyslexia, who have a bias in favor of the visual periphery, can rapidly take in a scene as a whole — what researchers call absorbing the “visual gist.”

Intriguing evidence that those with dyslexia process information from the visual periphery more quickly also comes from the study of “impossible figures,” like those sketched by the artist M. C. Escher. A focus on just one element of his complicated drawings can lead the viewer to believe that the picture represents a plausible physical arrangement.

A more capacious view that takes in the entire scene at once, however, reveals that Escher’s staircases really lead nowhere, that the water in his fountains is flowing up rather than down — that they are, in a word, impossible. Dr. Catya von Károlyi, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, found that people with dyslexia identified simplified Escher-like pictures as impossible or possible in an average of 2.26 seconds; typical viewers tend to take a third longer. “The compelling implication of this finding,” wrote Dr. Von Károlyi and her co-authors in the journal Brain and Language, “is that dyslexia should not be characterized only by deficit, but also by talent.”

The discovery of such talents inevitably raises questions about whether these faculties translate into real-life skills. Although people with dyslexia are found in every profession, including law, medicine and science, observers have long noted that they populate fields like art and design in unusually high numbers. Five years ago, the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity was founded to investigate and illuminate the strengths of those with dyslexia, while the seven-year-old Laboratory for Visual Learning, located within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is exploring the advantages conferred by dyslexia in visually intensive branches of science. The director of the laboratory, the astrophysicist Matthew Schneps, notes that scientists in his line of work must make sense of enormous quantities of visual data and accurately detect patterns that signal the presence of entities like black holes.

A pair of experiments conducted by Mr. Schneps and his colleagues, published in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society in 2011, suggests that dyslexia may enhance the ability to carry out such tasks. In the first study, Mr. Schneps reported that when shown radio signatures — graphs of radio-wave emissions from outer space — astrophysicists with dyslexia at times outperformed their nondyslexic colleagues in identifying the distinctive characteristics of black holes.

In the second study, Mr. Schneps deliberately blurred a set of photographs, reducing high-frequency detail in a manner that made them resemble astronomical images. He then presented these pictures to groups of dyslexic and nondyslexic undergraduates. The students with dyslexia were able to learn and make use of the information in the images, while the typical readers failed to catch on.

Given that dyslexia is universally referred to as a “learning disability,” the latter experiment is especially remarkable: in some situations, it turns out, those with dyslexia are actually the superior learners.

Mr. Schneps’s study is not the only one of its kind. In 2006, James Howard Jr., a professor of psychology at the Catholic University of America, described in the journal Neuropsychologia an experiment in which participants were asked to pick out the letter T from a sea of L’s floating on a computer screen. Those with dyslexia learned to identify the letter more quickly.

Whatever special abilities dyslexia may bestow, difficulty with reading still imposes a handicap. Glib talk about appreciating dyslexia as a “gift” is unhelpful at best and patronizing at worst. But identifying the distinctive aptitudes of those with dyslexia will permit us to understand this condition more completely, and perhaps orient their education in a direction that not only remediates weaknesses, but builds on strengths.

Annie Murphy Paul is the author of “Origins.” She is at work on a book about the science of learning.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-upside-of-dyslexia.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

In Response

Rose Marie Raccioppi

I have devoted the last thirty years serving hundreds of dyslexic students. Yes, their gifts and talents continue to amaze many. I am pleased to share with you a program that has brought reading mastery to each dyslexic student I have had the good fortune to have taught. APOGEE Learning Enhancement Training Systems provide the supports that are respectful of needs, talents, particular learning styles, interests and the creative orientations of each student.

My training as an occupational evaluator, and having studied the origins of the alphabet and how each letter is really a pictogram for movement and sound have allowed me to look at the reading process from a truly holistic paradigm. Each letter is its own experience, each sound is its own experience. The experience of each letter, both sound and configuration is taken into consideration in the therapeutic sessions. A child may have a stress response to a letter, a word, a sound. Through the use of Cognitive Kinesiology, stress responses are identified. Activities are then initiated to reverse the stress associations. I am here providing a link for further information and perusal. APOGEE Learning: Improved Reading Performance with APOGEE Somatic Phonics ~ A Breakthrough for the Dyslexic, The Learning Disabled, the Underachieved Reader. - http://apogeelearning.blogspot.com/2011/08/improved-reading-performance-with.html
Tracking, near and far point focus, visual perception, visual acuity, are all taken into consideration as the student encounters the printed word, on paper, on a computer screen, on a black board or white board. It is delight that each of my students experience when they master the confusions they have had with the lower case letters, b, d, p, q, or the numbers 3, 5, 8 and 6, 9. To master the sounding of 26 letters, their visual configuration and the 40 phonemes of the English language sets each student to masterful reading. Words that sound alike but are spelled differently are given particular attention. Once holding the key to every word, once appreciating that meaning and context are relative to one another, confusion gives way to interest and a willingness to travel across the printed page, ever ready to explore and seek understanding. With a newly developed certainty, students readily make a commitment to be the readers they know that they have the potential to become. Each student's program is uniquely tailored to meet the specific needs presented, is respectful of the student's potential, talents, interests and learning style.

The characteristics noted in, The Upside of Dyslexia, mirror my findings as well. A myriad of interests, abilities, talents and needs are indeed exemplified by dyslexic students across the age span. However, with one-on-one therapeutic tutorials that offer instant feedback, that addresses perception, attention, focus, hearing, seeing, speaking, stress, learning style, cognition and interest, I see the progression and development of masterful readers. Reading is understood by the student as a series of functions that require awareness, attention, practice and integration. Hundreds of students have proven that such an approach not only improves reading, but improves a sense of self that has a positive carry over to all recreational, academic and creative endeavors.

• Inquiries welcomed •
• Call or post •
• All Questions Answered •

For more information on services
provided for all learning needs:
http://www.apogeelearning.com
http://www.acu-tone.com

APOGEE Learning ~ A Whole Child Paradigm

•Learning styles honored and supported•
•Readiness experiences provided•
•Task analysis applied•
•Student interests as motivators•
•The Whole Brain approach to study and mastery•

Inquiries Welcomed
Call for your FREE Introductory Consultation.
845-359-9056
toll free: 1-866-228-8663
1-866-ACU-TONE

For information on Qualifications and Experience:
Rose Marie Raccioppi | LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rose-marie-raccioppi/20/509/293

YES ... Allow the JOY!!

As I read the article here posted, a conversation this past Monday, with the parents of a young student enrolled in the APOGEE Achiever™ Program, was clearly defined. A "Standardized" Reading Evaluation administered by the school, he is presently attending, indicated that the child was below grade level in reading, and obtained a reading comprehension score considerably below grade level. When looking at the reading passages, his answers, and the 53% rating he received, it became obvious that there was something amiss here. This young student is bright, verbal, sensitive, deeply aware and able to be discerning when what is presented is itself clear. It became evident that the passage was indeed confusing, firstly, because of the particular use of words that were not familiar to him. Once those words were 'cleared' his understanding was indeed on target.

This relates to an earlier discussion put forth on this blog. See: APOGEE Learning Enhancement Training Systems™ http://apogeelearning.blogspot.com/2010/04/apogge-learning-enhancement-training.html

The achiever learns that (1) one is to know the meaning and the particular context of each word in an assignment, in an instruction, in what is read, heard or demonstrated. No word that is not fully understood is to be glossed over. Every word is to be 'cleared' for understanding, application and relevance. The achiever learns that (2) there is to be 'mass' to what is learned, how does this idea, concept, object, function, in the world of action, interaction, purpose? The achiever learns that (3) there is a 'gradient' to all learning. One needs to identify what the prerequisite skills are for each step, each requirement, each expectation.

In addition decoding abilities are to be assured, and so the APOGEE Achiever™ Program offers for those students in need:

APOGEE Learning: Improved Reading Performance with APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ ~ A Breakthrough for the Dyslexic, The Learning Disabled, the Underachieved Reader.

http://apogeelearning.blogspot.com/2011/08/improved-reading-performance-with.html

Photo: I Love Reading: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/beyondherbook/?p=1660

YES... Allow the Joy!

READING is ongoing discovery...

PARENT'S SIGNATURE
Dear Governor: Lobby to Save a Love of Reading

Jan. 20, 2012, 12:37 p.m.

By Anne Stone and Jeff Nichols

On New Year’s Eve, we and another couple sat, as we have for many years, playing party games — waiting for midnight, a final toast, and a conservative but not reactionary bedtime shortly thereafter.

In past years our friends’ two girls led (and clobbered) us in rousing games of Pictionary; this year they were too old to hang out with their parents on this most festive night of the year. Our kids (younger) were already asleep.

Instead of Pictionary without the champions we decided to play a new game: “take the third-grade English Language Arts practice test” that our son had brought home from school as his vacation homework (if that is not an oxymoron, it should be).

We felt pretty confident of our ability to do well on the test: we all have Ph.D.’s in the humanities, three of us are tenured professors and one is a university administrator. We all make a living through reading.

The first section of the test comprised reading a short story and answering six multiple-choice questions about it. The story, concerning a pair of tiger siblings (an older sister named Tikki and a younger brother named Mista), was short and simple.

“Tikki eyed Mista, her little brother,” it began. ” ‘You sure don’t say much,’ she said.”

In the course of the story Tikki gets annoyed with her little brother because he can’t talk yet, attempts to get him interested in looking for bugs, then joins him in tearing bark off a log.

She tries to instruct him in this task, but discovers to her surprise that he is better at it than she is.

The first question asked, “What is this story mostly about?” (bold present on the test question) and offered four choices:

• A) what tigers like to eat
• B) how tigers tear bark off logs
• C) how two tigers get along
• D) what tigers like to do

An intense literary debate followed the reading aloud of the story and this first question. In fact, we never got beyond it. One of our party felt that B, “how tigers tear bark off logs,” best summed up the action-oriented nature of the story, while another thought that C, “how two tigers get along,” best highlighted the interaction between the two animals.

The third felt that the story was mostly about sibling relations, and fretted that there was no E) none of the above.

And, predictably, the fourth felt that all the possible answers had merit: F), or all of the above.

The truth is, even such a banal story cannot be reduced to a single theme, nor should it be. By asking young students to spend time taking tests like this we are doing them a double disservice: first, by inflicting on them such mediocre literature, and second, by training them to read not for pleasure but to discover a predetermined answer to a (let’s not mince words) stupid question.

Consider for a moment what it would be like to try to answer this question of a major work of children’s literature. So: what is the story “Piglet Meets a Heffalump” mostly about?” Is it about hunting and trapping techniques? Facing one’s fear of scary monsters? Joining with others in a great enterprise? Trying to impress your friends by claiming knowledge you don’t possess? Or does it mostly reveal how friendship and love can transcend all our foibles?

It is about all these things and more. Discovering such themes and trying to understand how they are presented is worthwhile; deciding which is the “main” one is not.

Literary texts, whether by A.A. Milne or Leo Tolstoy, always admit multiple interpretations — and the greater the work, the more robust the tension among these readings, and the graver the loss in trying to reduce the work to a single idea.

We cannot help but see a connection between the reductive approach to literature exhibited by the test and the reading program in place in the classroom, which we learned about during curriculum night early in the school year. We were informed that the school’s system for teaching reading was that of Fountas and Pinnell, a widely used curriculum developed at Columbia Teachers College.

This system ranks books, and children’s reading skill, according to an alphabetical scale of difficulty (“Harry Takes a Bath,” level E; “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” level V).

During curriculum night the teacher admonished that our children should under no circumstances read books either above or below their assigned level, because that would hamper their progress. She also frowned upon their reading a book more than once, presumably because it wastes valuable time children could be spending improving their reading strategies on new books.

These instructions were completely at odds with the way we both read as children: we re-read beloved books dozens, if not hundreds, of times, for years after our initial encounters with them, long after they had ceased to be challenging.

This is how our love of literature was born: by having committed to memory our favorite books, by internalizing the rhythms and cadences of their language. And yes, also by tackling books that were too hard, experiencing the excitement and mystery of partially glimpsing visions we would only possess in the distant future (long after the spring testing season).

By turning the experience of reading into something that is to be quantified, both in the way it is taught and the way it is tested, our son’s curriculum ensures that children will learn to regard reading as a chore and not as one of life’s great pleasures. Worse, it can become an instrument of competition.

“Greg is only reading at level E,” our son informed us scornfully early in the year after Greg had hurt his feelings over something. “And I’m at level P!”

In his recent State of the State address, Governor Cuomo said he wants to be an advocate for children. Let him lobby to protect their natural curiosity and love of learning from the onslaught of anti-intellectual, ends-oriented teaching practices forced on our educators by over-emphasis on standardized tests.

Thus was our first, and only, new year’s resolution formed as the clock struck midnight and we opened one last bottle of Spanish Cava to toast the new year: We will boycott the standardized test this spring, and we will do everything we can to encourage fellow parents to join us.

Anne Stone is associate professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Jeff Nichols is associate professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. They are the parents of eight-year-old twins in the third grade in New York City schools.

Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/20/dear-governor-lobby-to-save-a-love-of-reading

An Added Word

In 1975, as Founder of the Rockland County Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, and subsequently the President of the New York Association for the Learning Disabled, I launched a campaign, "KEEP A SMILE...." It was later proclaimed by the Governor of New York, on behalf of all children with learning disabilities. We have yet to fulfill this promise, and so the work presently is defined. A young mother then, a grandmother now, and many a child's smile to save.

Improved Reading Performance with APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ ~ A Breakthrough for the Dyslexic, The Learning Disabled, the Underachieved Reader.

Is your child struggling with dyslexia? Is he or she a misunderstood learner? APOGEE Learning Enhancement Training Systems™ is the answer. APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ is an integrated system developed for the dyslexic student to assure reading success. Twenty-eight years of documented success define the APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ Program. Reading with APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ becomes easier, word knowledge becomes more developed, and comprehension, spelling and writing improve. With a new and masterful command of reading, interest in other subject areas expand, focus is improved and grades soar to new heights.

APOGEE Learning™ takes a holistic approach to serving all learners at all ages and in all grades, including the special needs of those with learning disabilities. All programs are developed and administered by Rose Marie Raccioppi, a state-certified, honored, awarded and highly acclaimed educator, within a warm and nurturing environment. Each one-on-one session is personalized and available in all subjects.

With APOGEE Somatic Phonics™, specific letter sounding practices are initiated allowing one to confidently learn the distinction among letter sounds and letter names. Seeing, hearing, touching and perceiving define the scope of reading and the reading process. Observation itself is reading. Once the sound association is clear, the visual symbol is introduced via a three-dimensional object. Once that step is mastered, a two-dimensional representation is introduced. It is a truly integrated multi-sensory experience.

Each letter read and sounded is evaluated via APOGEE Cognitive Kinesiology™, a process that allows the student to understand the integrative action of the mind-body energy system. This process is utilized to determine if the letter brings about a stress response. If a stress response is found, a series of activities are initiated to address the specific finding. Once the stress response is abated, which is the result of the newly introduced experience of rebuilding the structure of the physical letter, one proceeds to view the printed word with renewed energy and focus. It is well known that people avoid that which is painful or stressful. By eliminating the stress associated with reading, the process then becomes an exploratory and pleasurable experience. Improved reading performance is a guaranteed outcome.

Rose Marie Raccioppi, MS FABI is state-certified in regular and special education, supervision and administration. With advanced studies in psychology, education, cognition, stress management and holistic health, Raccioppi's program is comprehensive. In addition to her academic excellence, she is an exhibiting artist, published poet and the Poet Laureate of Orangetown, New York. Raccioppi has developed supportive programs integrating the academics and the arts. Consultations for parents, educators and teacher training are offered, in addition to individualized student services.

Inquiries Welcomed

For more information on services
provided for all learning needs:

http://www.apogeelearning.com
http://www.acu-tone.com

With autonomy, mastery and purpose,
creative, caring, free thinkers
and doers are developed.

• Inquiries welcomed •
• Call or post •
• All Questions Answered •

The APOGEE Achiever Program™
The Academics and the Arts
~ Soar To Success ~

Call for your FREE Introductory Consultation.
•all sessions personalized and one-to-one•
•comfortable environment•
•warm and nurturing support•
845-359-9056
toll free: 1-866-228-8663
1-866-ACU-TONE

Fostering Intention and Attention

There is something to explore, something to learn, something to hold fascination, something to encourage discovery, query, and challenge. The flutter of a butterfly, the flight of a bird, a flower in bloom, nature, the spoken word, music, song, the creation of letters, words and the printed page call for attention. Seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving, define the all encompassing scope of reading and the reading process. Observation itself is "reading" The expressions: "how do you read him/her...," "what's your read on that," speak to this very concept. Intention and attention are interrelated. One supports the other.

Energy Follows Attention, posted by Deepak Chopra Jun 20, 2011 (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/energy-follows-attention.html) addresses this relationship of intention-attention-attention-intention and is presented here for your consideration.

"Consciousness orchestrates its activity in response to both attention and intention. Whatever you put your attention on becomes energized. Whatever you take your attention away from dwindles. On the other hand, intention is the key to transformation, as we have seen. So you could say that attention activates the energy field, and intention activates the information field, which causes transformation.

Every time you speak you transmit information through an energy field using sound waves. Every time you send or receive e-mail, you use both information and energy. There is information in the words you select, and the energy is the electromagnetic impulse that travels through cyberspace.

Information and energy are inseparably connected. Have you ever noticed how, when you start paying attention to a particular word or color or object, that very thing seems to appear more often in your environment?

Millions of things happen every day that never penetrate our conscious minds: sounds from the street, conversations of people around us, newspaper articles that our eyes quickly scan, patterns on clothing, shoe colors, smells, textures, flavors.

Our consciousness can handle only so much information, so we have selective attention. Whatever we choose to focus our attention on will make it past the mind’s filtering system.

In the physical world we have many different ways of acquiring information. But if you want to tap in to the information at the level of the soul, you need a different way to get the information.

We don’t normally have our attention in that unseen dimension, but everything that’s happening in the visible world has its roots there. Everything is connected with everything else. In the spiritual world, those connections become visible."

Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).


Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/energy-follows-attention.html#ixzz1PqUaAl8C

Image credit: http://askmissa.com.

Inquiries Welcomed

For more information on services
provided for all learning needs:

http://www.apogeelearning.com
http://www.acu-tone.com

APOGEE Somatic Phonics ™ - Masterful Reading for the Dyslexic

APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ is an integrated system developed for the dyslexic student to assure reading success. Recent studies have shown that sound can indeed stimulate the visual areas of the brain. Bringing awareness and attention to the sensation of sound vibration throughout the body when sounding a vowel, a consonant or a phoneme, allows a somatic impression that becomes translated into the visual symbol, phoneme or word. It is amazing to see the progress and the confidence a student develops when experiencing this successful integration.

Each vowel which is the "breath" of a word, and each consonant which is the "body" of the word stimulate specific organs and nerve networks. Specific letter sounding practices are initiated allowing one to confidently learn the distinction among letter sounds and letter names. Once the sound associations are clear, the visual symbol is introduced via a three dimensional object, once mastered, it is followed by its two dimensional representation. The students learn to 'see' (configure) with their ears and 'hear' (sound) with their eyes. Seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving, define the all encompassing scope of reading and the reading process. Herein is a truly integrated multi-sensory experience. Each letter read and sounded is evaluated via APOGEE Cognitive Kinesiology™ to determine if the letter brings about a stress response. If a stress response is found, a series of activities are initiated to address the specific finding. Once the stress response is abated, which is the result of the newly introduced experience of rebuilding the structure of the physical letter, one proceeds to view the printed word with renewed energy and focus. It is well known that one tends to avoid that which is painful or stressful. By abating the

stress association, reading becomes the exploratory experience it is meant to be.

The study posted below, although, pertains to the blind, is indeed related to the principles inherent and operative in APOGEE Somatic Phonics™. Sound translates to orientation in space and time which goes beyond just the 'seeing' with the eyes. Interesting to note that this bears a relationship to how reading is taught via braille to the blind person and how reading is taught via APOGEE Somatic Phonics ™ to the dyslexic student. For the dyslexic, sounding phonemes, is very much like sounding clicks as presented here, and likewise "light up the visual part of the brain," allowing the non-reader to integrate and become a master reader!

Twenty eight years of documented success define the APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ Program. Whole brain activities, integration of left brain and right brain functioning and perceptions, characterize the scope and range of program components. Reading via APOGEE Somatic Phonics™ becomes more fluid, word awareness and word knowledge are developed, comprehension improves, spelling improves, writing improves, the sense of one as being capable of mastery is experienced. With a new and masterful command of reading, interest in all other subject areas is expanded, focus is improved and grades soar to new heights. Improved reading performance is a Guaranteed outcome!

Rose Marie Raccioppi, MS FABI is State Certified in Regular and Special Education, Supervision and Administration. With advanced studies in psychology, education, cognition, stress management, and holistic health, her program offerings are comprehensive. In addition to her academic excellence, Rose Marie is an exhibiting artist, published poet and the Poet Laureate of Orangetown, New York. Her all inclusive studies have brought her to develop supportive programs integrating the academics and the arts. Consultations for parents, educators and teacher training, are offered in addition to individualized student services.

For more information: APOGEE Learning Enhancement Training Systems™ - http://www.apogeelearning.com/

Inquiries Welcomed

For more information on services
provided for all learning needs:

http://www.apogeelearning.com
http://www.acu-tone.com

With autonomy, mastery and purpose,
creative, caring, free thinkers
and doers are developed.

• Inquiries welcomed •
• Call or post •
• All Questions Answered •

The APOGEE Achiever Program™
The Academics and the Arts
~ Soar To Success ~

Call for your FREE Introductory Consultation.
•all sessions personalized and one-to-one•
•comfortable environment•
•warm and nurturing support•
845-359-9056
toll free: 1-866-228-8663
1-866-ACU-TONE

Blind people can learn

to navigate like bats

by 'SEEING' objects

using clicks and echoes

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 3:02 PM on 26th May 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1391020/Blind-objects-using-bat-skills-study-reveals-clicks-light-VISUAL-brain.html

Blind people can learn to navigate like bats by 'seeing' objects from sounds reflected off them, a study has shown.

They make clicking noises with their mouths and listen to the returning echoes to make sense of their environment.

A few are so adept at the skill that they use it to go mountain biking, play ball games, or explore unknown places.

Blind leading the blind: Daniel Kish is now teaching others with sight-loss how to use echolocation.

Daniel Kish, 43, was the best performer during tests at the University of Ontario. He had his eyes removed at 13 months of age due to retinoblastoma, a rare blinding cancer.

He said he naturally used echolocation as a child to help him move around.

'People used to call it my "radar,” he says. I’ve been echolocating for as long as I can remember.'

Surprisingly, the echoes are processed using the visual part of the brain - not the auditory region that receives sound signals from the ears, scientists have discovered.

The university team carried out functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to study the brain activity of Mr Kish and Brian Bushway, 27, who had also been left completely blind in childhood.

On the move: Daniel Kish said he started clicking to get his bearings from a very young age. He now teaches other blind people to use echolocation

Senior scientist Dr Mel Goodale, from the University of Western Ontario, said: 'It is clear that echolocation enables blind people to do things that are otherwise thought to be impossible without vision, and in this way it can provide blind and vision-impaired people with a high degree of independence in their daily lives.'

It may be possible for anyone to learn to echolocate like a bat, according to the researchers.

Bats emit a high-pitched sound while flying at night. The sound waves bounce off an object and send an echo back. Just as light waves provide information to our eyes for our brain to interpret, similarly the echo sound waves have impressions from the objects they bounce off of.

The sounds illuminate the environment acoustically, rather than optically.

'You can hear those imprints,' Mr Kish told Western News.

'You can hear the differences in the sound waves as they come back. So basically what you can do is extract information now imbedded in those sound waves. That information corresponds to the surfaces from which the sound waves bounce.'

He added that hearing is a 360-degree sense, whereas vision is limited to 180 degrees and that auditory information is processed more quickly than visual data.

The findings from the study were published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1391020/Blind-objects-using-bat-skills-study-reveals-clicks-light-VISUAL-brain.html#ixzz1NWI4uc99