Teach Effectively!

Every now and again, I see something that leaves me at a loss about whether I should giggle or sob. One of those times occurred this evening. While I was working on something else entirely unrelated, I found an abstract that left me in siggle-gobs and from which I selected this excerpt:

Stereotypical behaviour, repetitive actions with no apparent purpose, are often found in people with learning disabilities and sensory impairment. Stereotypical behaviour can take the form of self injurious actions, such as eye poking, but even harmless activity such as rocking backwards and forwards can be undesirable. Such behaviour allows a person to create their own sensory stimulation and to retreat into a world that is safe, consistent and rewarding. This article reviews how aromatherapy and massage can play a role in reducing stereotypical behaviour.

Yes, you have that right. It recommends aromatherapy (and massage) for people with Learning Disability (in this case, apparently in the sense that LD is used in Great Britain). Not only that, but this abstract indicates that the accompanying article empowers the individual with disabilties and it purports to base its conclusions a review of the literature.

I like pleasant smells and touches just about as much as anybody, but can this be serious? Actually, mayhaps it’s a more gentle form of sensory integration therapy. Maybe there really is a literature showing not only that the limbic system is influenced by the olfactory system, but that therapies based on smell have salutary positive effects on social interaction and learning. I just wish that effective teaching procedures didn’t have to compete with these sorts of therapies. Not everything is good. Just because we can respond to criticims by saying something like, “Well, it can’t hurt,” doesn’t mean it will help. Furthermore, investing time, effort, funds, and hope in therapies that can’t hurt probably does come at the expense of time, effort, funds, and hope for therapies that have a better-than-average record for producing benefits. Aaarrrrgh. Enough said. My siggle gobs are progressing too far in the direction of irritation.

Here’s the link. One can gain access to a full copy of the article for a fee.