BUA-MI - Language development through meaningful activity

This is a project with broad interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration. The project group from Eikholt has worked closely with the Regional Centre for Deafblindness, Statped South East on tactile linguistics, Engerdal municipality was mainly responsible for the construction of the shelter, BUA-MI, and the PP service in Trysil and Engerdal was a committed partner. Two young men with deafblindness and their teams at school and adult education/housing have been at the centre of the work.

The project has taken place in Sømådalen, a small village in the north of Engerdal municipality. There is a municipal residence located on the Johnsgård family farm, where Tormod, one of the two with congenital deafblindness, lives. The other has been travelling with his teachers during the project weeks.

The aim of this project was to create an activity that could be sensed holistically through the tactile sense, thereby creating the best opportunities for language and language development. Language should also be possible to sense. Tactile signs borrowed from sign language together with a clear voice are what the two young men are able to sense. Signs and gestures are their way of expressing themselves.

Throughout the project, the focus has been on raising expertise in tactile communication. Training and exercises have been linked to the construction of BUA-MI. The interdisciplinary collaboration has been a process that has contributed to a development in which everyone has participated.

In addition, the project collaboration has yielded other results such as increased social networking, new friendships and good relationships that would otherwise never have taken place.

Part 1 follows the work over the course of a year, describing several weeks of work, courses and employee counselling.

Part 2 follows Tormod and his team through another year, which is the last of two years of project work.

The construction of BUA-MI and the activities related to the construction and use of the centre have become a meeting place for several people with congenital deafblindness and their staff and families. Such a meeting place is inspiring and stimulating when it also invites several professionals to participate in good discussions. It is important to have multiple perspectives, in order to contribute to the development of good tactile language practice for people with congenital deafblindness. This is a short-lived field, and the excellent arena has demonstrated the importance of interdisciplinary co-operation. It gives rise to expertise, but also the opportunity to spread the expertise further where it is needed.

The experience shows how vulnerable people with deafblindness are in relation to the expertise of their surroundings, and will hopefully lead to a more active life for more adults with congenital deafblindness. Experiences from this project have a transfer value to other homes.

Download the project reports here:

Language development through meaningful activity - 1 of 2 (PDF)
Language development through meaningful activity - Continuation 2 of 2 (PDF)