Creating Cultural-historical Theory

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Abstract
Extract It is not generally known that throughout his academic career Vygotsky worked as a clinical psychologist and that his theorizing was inspired by his thinking about the problems experienced by blind, deaf and mentally impaired children. Nevertheless, the diagnosis and treatment of these children formed part of his practical and theoretical activities right from the start of his work at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. It was in the context of his working with these children that Vygotsky hit upon the notion of the cultural tool, one of the key concepts of his later cultural-historical theory. Take the case of blind children. In order to partake of our culture and to develop intellectually, these children must learn to read. Obviously, they cannot read in the ordinary sense of the word, that is, they cannot translate conventional signs into words and meanings when these are presented visually. However, there is no need to present these signs visually; one may make use of the intact tactile sense of blind children and teach them the Braille script instead.
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