Bodily-tactile early intervention: a pilot study of the role of maternal touch and emotional availability in interactions between three children with visual impairment and additional disabilities and their mothers.

Background: Children with visual impairment and additional disabilities (VIAD) have difficulty accessing the visual information related to their parents' facial expressions and gestures. Similarly, it may be hard for parents to detect their children's subtle expressions. These challenges in accessibility may compromise emotional availability (EA) in parent-child interactions. The systematic use of the bodily-tactile modality for expressive and receptive communicative functions may function as a strategy to compensate for a child's lack of vision. This multiple-case study explored the effects of a bodily-tactile early intervention for three mothers and their one-year-old children with VIAD. Methods: Video data from baseline, intervention, and follow-up sessions were analyzed using a bodily-tactile coding procedure and EA Scales. Results: During the intervention, all mothers began to use a more bodily-tactile modality in early play routines and in different communicative functions. They increased their use of anticipatory cues, noticing responses, and tactile signs. Moreover, the children were more emotionally available to their mothers during the intervention and follow-up compared to the baseline. Conclusion: The results indicated that, during a short intervention, mothers could adopt a systematic use of the bodily-tactile modality in interactions with their children with VIAD. The results also suggest that, when mothers increased flexibility in communication channels, it was positively linked to their children's EA.

Bodily-tactile early intervention for a mother and her child with visual impairment and additional disabilities: a case study.

PURPOSE: Congenital visual impairment and additional disabilities (VIAD) may hamper the development of a child's communication skills and the quality of overall emotional availability between a child and his/her parents. This study investigated the effects of bodily-tactile intervention on a Finnish 26-year-old mother's use of the bodily-tactile modality, the gestural and vocal expressions of her one-year-old child with VIAD, and emotional availability between the dyad. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mixed methods were used in the video analysis. The child's and his mother's bodily-tactile and gestural expressions were analyzed using a coding procedure. Applied conversation analysis was used to further analyse the child's emerging gestural expressions in their sequential interactive context. Emotional availability scales were used to analyze the emotional quality of the interaction. RESULTS: The results showed that the mother increased her use of the bodily-tactile modality during the intervention, especially in play and tactile signing. The child imitated new signs and developed new gestural expressions based on his bodily-tactile experiences during the intervention sessions. His vocalizations did not change. Emotional availability remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: The case study approach allowed the in-depth investigation of the components contributing to the emergence of gestural expressions in children with VIAD.Implications for rehabilitationBodily-tactile modality may compensate for the absence of a child's vision in child-parent interactions.Bodily-tactile early intervention may be effective in guiding caregivers to use bodily-tactile modality in interacting with their child with VIAD.Caregivers' use of bodily-tactile modality in interactions may contribute to the development of gestural expressions in a child with VIAD.The use of bodily-tactile modality in interactions may improve the emotional connection between children with VIAD and their caregivers.