This Mattered to Me

"Teaching Strategies of the van Dijk Curricular Approach," by Stephanie Z. C. MacFarland, published in the May-June 1995 Special Issue on Deaf-Blindness of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, Volume 89, Number 3, pp. 222-228. When Dr. MacFarland's article appeared in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) in 1995, I was ecstatic that she presented Dr. van Dijk's theories and curricular approach for learners with deaf-blindness in such a comprehensive, concise, and lucid manner. I had met Dr. van Dijk in the 1970s, had attended several workshops he conducted in the United States, and had read many of his writings that had originated in the Netherlands. Until Dr. MacFarland's outstanding article was published in JVIB, no single piece of writing existed that clearly explained Dr. van Dijk's theoretical principles and provided concrete instructional strategies that would be beneficial to educators of learners with dual sensory impairments across the world. This article MATTERED TO ME, because the author based it on her actual experiences observing Dutch educators who were trained in Dr. van Dijk's theories and curricular approach. At that time, Dr. van Dijk was the director of the deaf-blind program at the St. Raphael School in Sint Michielsgestel, the Netherlands. Dr. MacFarland was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a year in the Netherlands doing research for her doctorate under Dr. van Dijk's mentorship. The article MATTERS TO ME now, because I was fortunate to visit the deaf-blind Program in the Netherlands twice during the present decade, and Dr. MacFarland's article further confirmed the validity of the principles and strategies I observed during my travels. PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THEORY-DRIVEN STRATEGIES This article should MATTER TO YOU, especially if you work with learners with multiple impairments. It is replete with examples of the practical application of Dr. van Dijk's theory-driven strategies. This practical information alone warrants the article being preserved digitally for posterity in JVIB Online. The strategies outlined in this article can be used as guidelines for providing appropriate instruction and are aligned with the highest level of "promising practices" that we educators try to attain in the field today, such as augmentative and alternative communication, positive behavioral interventions and supports for challenging behaviors. This article is also a valuable required resource for the students in my program at Hunter College, and my students have observed their mentor teachers using the suggested strategies during their student teaching experience. Dr. van Dijk's curricular approach provides us with a starting point for implementing systematic teaching approaches to enhance interactions, communication, conceptualization, and meaningful activities for learners with deaf-blindness in a variety of placements (such as at home, at school, and in the community). Although it was originally written for those who work with individuals with deaf-blindness, I feel that the information included in the article has much wider applicability for use with learners with other multiple disabilities including autism, cognitive disabilities, and severe challenging behaviors. …