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6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals

Click-based echolocation can support mobility and orientation in people with vision impairments (VI) when used alongside other mobility methods. Only a small number of people with VI use click-based echolocation. Previous research about echolocation addresses the skill of echolocation per se to unde...

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Autores principales: Thaler, Lore, Di Gregorio, Giammarco, Foresteire, Denise
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284336
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2023.1098624
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author Thaler, Lore
Di Gregorio, Giammarco
Foresteire, Denise
author_facet Thaler, Lore
Di Gregorio, Giammarco
Foresteire, Denise
author_sort Thaler, Lore
collection PubMed
description Click-based echolocation can support mobility and orientation in people with vision impairments (VI) when used alongside other mobility methods. Only a small number of people with VI use click-based echolocation. Previous research about echolocation addresses the skill of echolocation per se to understand how echolocation works, and its brain basis. Our report is the first to address the question of professional practice for people with VI, i.e., a very different focus. VI professionals are well placed to affect how a person with VI might learn about, experience or use click-based echolocation. Thus, we here investigated if training in click-based echolocation for VI professionals might lead to a change in their professional practice. The training was delivered via 6-h workshops throughout the UK. It was free to attend, and people signed up via a publicly available website. We received follow-up feedback in the form of yes/no answers and free text comments. Yes/no answers showed that 98% of participants had changed their professional practice as a consequence of the training. Free text responses were analysed using content analysis, and we found that 32%, 11.7% and 46.6% of responses indicated a change in information processing, verbal influencing or instruction and practice, respectively. This attests to the potential of VI professionals to act as multipliers of training in click-based echolocation with the potential to improve the lives of people with VI. The training we evaluated here could feasibly be integrated into VI Rehabilitation or VI Habilitation training as implemented at higher education institutions (HEIs) or continuing professional development (CPD).
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spelling pubmed-102398872023-06-06 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals Thaler, Lore Di Gregorio, Giammarco Foresteire, Denise Front Rehabil Sci Rehabilitation Sciences Click-based echolocation can support mobility and orientation in people with vision impairments (VI) when used alongside other mobility methods. Only a small number of people with VI use click-based echolocation. Previous research about echolocation addresses the skill of echolocation per se to understand how echolocation works, and its brain basis. Our report is the first to address the question of professional practice for people with VI, i.e., a very different focus. VI professionals are well placed to affect how a person with VI might learn about, experience or use click-based echolocation. Thus, we here investigated if training in click-based echolocation for VI professionals might lead to a change in their professional practice. The training was delivered via 6-h workshops throughout the UK. It was free to attend, and people signed up via a publicly available website. We received follow-up feedback in the form of yes/no answers and free text comments. Yes/no answers showed that 98% of participants had changed their professional practice as a consequence of the training. Free text responses were analysed using content analysis, and we found that 32%, 11.7% and 46.6% of responses indicated a change in information processing, verbal influencing or instruction and practice, respectively. This attests to the potential of VI professionals to act as multipliers of training in click-based echolocation with the potential to improve the lives of people with VI. The training we evaluated here could feasibly be integrated into VI Rehabilitation or VI Habilitation training as implemented at higher education institutions (HEIs) or continuing professional development (CPD). Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-05-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10239887/ /pubmed/37284336 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2023.1098624 Text en © 2023 Thaler, Di Gregorio and Foresteire. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Rehabilitation Sciences
Thaler, Lore
Di Gregorio, Giammarco
Foresteire, Denise
6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title_full 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title_fullStr 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title_full_unstemmed 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title_short 6-hour Training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
title_sort 6-hour training in click-based echolocation changes practice in visual impairment professionals
topic Rehabilitation Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10239887/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37284336
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2023.1098624
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