Function of Play in Low Vision Children (Part 2): Emerging Patterns of Behavior

Patterns of play behavior in young low vision children in a structured free-play situation with toys were analyzed. The study included 18 children with low vision (20/200-20/800) ranging in age from 20 months to 4 years 4 months. A group of normally sighted peers was also included in the study. The children were videotaped during a 15-minute free-play session. The play behaviors were coded into four categories of play: functional, stereotypical, relational, and undifferentiated. The presence of visual impairment was associated with significantly less functional and more stereotypical play behavior indicating quantitative and qualitative differences between groups. Developmental patterns across age levels in the incidence of functional, stereotypical, active play and the number of different appropriate uses of toys generated were also analyzed. Significant main effects of visual impairment and age on these patterns were identified. Results provided evidence that the patterns of play in young children with low vision differ significantly from those of their normally sighted peers.

Spatial Representation by Persons who are Blind: A Study of the Effects of Learning and Development

Children and adolescents who are congenitally and adventitiously blind were divided into four age groups and introduced to two different unfamiliar environments (small and large) in a maximum of four trials. Spatial representation was assessed through the subjects’ construction of models and estimates of distance. It was found that age is the most important factor, while learning seems to play a subordinate role in the development of spatial representation of blind people.

Recognition of Vocally Expressed Emotion by Congenitally Blind Children

Eight congenitally blind children, individually matched with eight sighted children, were tested for their ability to identify vocal expressions of emotion and the sounds of a range of non-emotional objects. They had specific difficulty recognizing emotions according to vocal qualities.

The Use of Language in Simple Classification Tasks by Children who are Blind

Two groups of classification tasks, verbal and figurative, were presented to 30 blind children and 30 sighted children aged 6–11. Although the younger blind children were significantly less efficient on both groups of tasks and on the vocabulary test, those who were age 11 had reached or were close to the level of the sighted children. The analysis illustrates how the blind children adjusted their conceptual knowledge to their lexicon, or vice versa (borrowing some linguistic patterns from the experimenter, if necessary).

The Attainment of Conservation by Visually Impaired Children in Taiwan

A study to investigate the differences in cognitive development between sighted and visually impaired children in the Republic of China, as measured by Piagetian tasks of conservation, indicated that age and vision were two significant variables contributing to the attainment of conservation with young visually impaired children, who were more apt to be nonconservers; the order of difficulty of eight conservation tasks for the partially sighted children was more similar to that of the sighted children than to that of the blind children, with the blind children differing greatly from both the partially sighted and the sighted children; a one-to-four-year developmental lag in the attainment of conservation was found in blind children compared to the sighted and partially sighted children; blind children made up these development delays at the age of 11; and the explanations given by the conservers among the sighted, partially sighted and blind children were similar; the explanations given by the blind and partially sighted nonconservers, however, demonstrated more variability than those of the sighted nonconservers.

Active Exploration of the Environment by Young Children with Low Vision: A Review of the Literature

Young children with low vision experience delays in cognitive development, motor development, and social skills because of the lack of motivation or insufficient opportunities to explore their environments actively. As a result, they have difficulty acquiring practical knowledge and spatial and environmental concepts. This review of the literature explores these problems, discusses current approaches to addressing them, and suggests areas for future research, including the use of optical aids.

Small-scale versus Large-scale Spatial Reasoning: Educational Implications for Children who are Visually Impaired

People process small-scale and large-scale spatial information differently. Although these differences are part of normal cognitive development, they may also be the result of substantial neurological abnormalities and may be confounded by visual impairment. This article reviews developmental and neuropsychological evidence of these differences and their implications for teaching children who are visually impaired.

First steps towards a model of tactile graphicacy

This paper describes our initial steps towards developing a model of how blind people comprehend tactile graphics. In the first half of the paper we set out the aims of the model, and then consider other key issues such as the nature and scope of the model, the information it must incorporate and the outcomes it should provide. In the second half of the paper we present our ideas for the model itself, outlining the four facets that make it up - perceptual processing, cognitive skills, knowledge and cognitive development Throughout the paper we raise questions for open debate and invite feedback on our ideas.

Spatial navigation by congenitally blind individuals

Spatial navigation in the absence of vision has been investigated from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. These different approaches have progressed our understanding of spatial knowledge acquisition by blind individuals, including their abilities, strategies, and corresponding mental representations. In this review, we propose a framework for investigating differences in spatial knowledge acquisition by blind and sighted people consisting of three longitudinal models (i.e., convergent, cumulative, and persistent). Recent advances in neuroscience and technological devices have provided novel insights into the different neural mechanisms underlying spatial navigation by blind and sighted people and the potential for functional reorganization. Despite these advances, there is still a lack of consensus regarding the extent to which locomotion and wayfinding depend on amodal spatial representations. This challenge largely stems from methodological limitations such as heterogeneity in the blind population and terminological ambiguity related to the concept of cognitive maps. Coupled with an over‐reliance on potential technological solutions, the field has diffused into theoretical and applied branches that do not always communicate. Here, we review research on navigation by congenitally blind individuals with an emphasis on behavioral and neuroscientific evidence, as well as the potential of technological assistance. Throughout the article, we emphasize the need to disentangle strategy choice and performance when discussing the navigation abilities of the blind population. WIREs Cogn Sci 2016, 7:37–58. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1375

For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Profound developmental dyscalculia: evidence for a cardinal/ordinal skills acquisition device

This article presents an analysis of a form of dysfunctional mathematical development. A child of normal intelligence was unable to acquire basic cardinal numerical skills, despite relatively intact ordinal number use. These findings provide evidence for an innate "cardinal/ordinal skills acquisition device" (COSAD). It is argued that if this COSAD is lacking, ordinal number use may be compensated for by linguistic logic and visual skills. Cardinal number skills, however, remain limited as these demand an innate internal representation of quantity, which cannot be compensated for. The findings are discussed in terms of different approaches to number development.

VEP acuity, FPL acuity, and visual behavior of visually impaired children

Forced-choice preferential-looking (FPL) and pattern-visual-evoked potential (VEP) acuity tests were conducted with 42 children with bilateral moderate to severe visual impairment (age, 4 months to 9 years). Within this group of children, FPL acuity testing was more successful than VEP acuity testing (98% versus 64%). Mean FPL acuity was better than mean VEP acuity (20/155 vs 20/290, P less than .002). For the children who completed both FPL and VEP acuity tests, an acuity difference score (FPL minus VEP) was derived, and compared to difference scores based on normative data. Significant differences were found between visually impaired (VI) and control difference scores (P less than .001). Difference scores of VI were larger than and opposite in sign to the control scores. Rating scores of visual behaviors supported the concurrent validity of the FPL acuities (P = .01), but not the VEP acuities.

Visual impairment, verbal humor, and conservation

Through a cerebral hemispheric specialization model, I speculated that the reported discrepancy between visually impaired children's competency in language development and lags in cognition may be explained by the use of visual-spatial measurements of cognition. The performance of 51 visually impaired and 51 sighted children, ages 7 to 15 years, on a task of joke comprehension and conservation of weight scores was analyzed. I hypothesized that the ability to comprehend verbal humor would reflect the function of the left hemisphere of the brain and the ability to perform a Piagetian visual-spatial task would reflect the function of the right hemisphere. The findings indicate that although age and IQ contributed significantly to predicting joke comprehension, the ability to conserve did not have a unique contribution. In conclusion, I suggest that the cerebral hemispheric specialization model be considered when investigating language and cognition of visually impaired children.