Tacpac
Encyclopedia
Tacpac is multi-sensory process created in 1995 that can be used to promote communication and movement through touch and music. Originally designed as a process for young children with sensory impairment (e.g. deafblindness
), and developmental delay, researchers, parents and practitioners have found that it can be used across a wide range of ages, through adolescence, middle age, and even in geriatric care.
The Tacpac process is based on the idea of tactile play, using the skin, the largest sensory organ in the body, as a primary means of contact. By varying the type of touch (regular / irregular, continuous / intermittent, textures, warm / cool etc), the helper provides a range of stimuli that heighten the receiver's levels of awareness and arousal and promote responses. Each touch stimulus is accompanied by a short, specially composed piece of music designed to match it in mood and enhance the experience.
Through repetition of activities in the Tacpac repertoire, the receiver learns to show responses that can be understood as, for example, like, dislike, want, reject, known, unknown; and begins to move in response to stimuli, anticipate activities, and relate to the helper. These primal responses that comprise pre-intentional and affective communication can be crucial steps towards more clearly defined intentional communication and even language acquisition.
As one researcher writes: "One of the most effective ways of establishing contact with deafblind children and so encouraging a communicative response is to share activities with a high levels of physical contact and pleasant sensations. These include [...] Tacpac a package where taped music is linked to a range of tactile sensations."
The number of research projects around Tacpac is growing . It has found support from RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) and Sense, and has growing followers amongst MSI (multi-sensory impairment) networks.
Hilary Wainer, one of the creators of the Tacpac process, continues to develop new applications and processes around the process. Including, but not limited to: communication to and from, as well as morale boosting of both the child and parent.
Deafblindness
Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful sight and little or no useful hearing. Educationally, individuals are considered to be deafblind when the combination of their hearing and vision loss causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they...
), and developmental delay, researchers, parents and practitioners have found that it can be used across a wide range of ages, through adolescence, middle age, and even in geriatric care.
The Tacpac process is based on the idea of tactile play, using the skin, the largest sensory organ in the body, as a primary means of contact. By varying the type of touch (regular / irregular, continuous / intermittent, textures, warm / cool etc), the helper provides a range of stimuli that heighten the receiver's levels of awareness and arousal and promote responses. Each touch stimulus is accompanied by a short, specially composed piece of music designed to match it in mood and enhance the experience.
Through repetition of activities in the Tacpac repertoire, the receiver learns to show responses that can be understood as, for example, like, dislike, want, reject, known, unknown; and begins to move in response to stimuli, anticipate activities, and relate to the helper. These primal responses that comprise pre-intentional and affective communication can be crucial steps towards more clearly defined intentional communication and even language acquisition.
As one researcher writes: "One of the most effective ways of establishing contact with deafblind children and so encouraging a communicative response is to share activities with a high levels of physical contact and pleasant sensations. These include [...] Tacpac a package where taped music is linked to a range of tactile sensations."
The number of research projects around Tacpac is growing . It has found support from RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) and Sense, and has growing followers amongst MSI (multi-sensory impairment) networks.
Hilary Wainer, one of the creators of the Tacpac process, continues to develop new applications and processes around the process. Including, but not limited to: communication to and from, as well as morale boosting of both the child and parent.