Future educators' perceptions of vicariance as a design tool in early childhood education services in the presence of visually impaired children.

Neuroscience highlights the body’s central role in cognition, showing the close link between perception, action, and thought. Vicariance is a creative capacity of the brain that enables humans to devise alternative solutions to the complexity and unpredictability of reality. It thus represents an adaptive resource that fosters flexibility and responsiveness, both essential for survival. In the case of visual impairment, vicariance allows the body to compensate for the lack of sight by enhancing other senses and supporting movement. This concept is highly relevant to education, where biological and cultural dimensions intersect. In the learning processes of visually impaired children, vicariance can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, it reflects the child’s ability to develop strategies that compensate for the absence of vision. On the other hand, it refers to the educator’s role in designing flexible responses tailored to specific educational needs, within an Adaptive Decision-Making perspective. On these grounds, a questionnaire was administered to students in the Educational Sciences degree program at the University of Salerno during the course "Inclusive Design of Early Childhood Services." The aim was to explore future educators’ perceptions of designing activities for early childhood contexts with children with visual impairments, and to assess how they envision using vicariance as a creative tool to foster inclusive education for all.