A framework for learners developing bodily-tactile communication and tactile sign language skills

Steve Rose — Version 1.3, 2023 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

"Communication is a two-way partnership — it is not a deficit located in one person. The practitioner's job is to become a skilled, responsive partner, not to remediate the learner."

Steve Rose, informed by Nafstad & Rødbroe (2013)

What is this framework for?

This framework helps practitioners who work with people who are congenitally deafblind, or who have multi-sensory impairments, to assess where a learner is in developing tactile and bodily communication, and to plan meaningful next steps. It is intended for use by speech and language therapists, teachers of the deafblind, interveners, and allied health professionals.

The framework is designed to be used in naturalistic observation contexts — in the classroom, at home, during daily routines — alongside the learner's communication partners. It is not a deficit model. Every observation is an observation of a relationship, not of an individual.

The five learner stages

Important: learners are heterogeneous

A learner may show skills across multiple profiles simultaneously, particularly where skills are domain-specific. Always complete the profile that best reflects the learner's overall picture, but note and record cross-profile strengths. The framework is a map, not a ladder.

Source: Steve Rose, A framework for learners developing bodily-tactile communication and tactile sign language skills, V1.3, 2023. Copyright Steve Rose 2020. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.