Young blind children: towards assessment for rehabilitation

Traditional assumptions about assessment need to be rethought, recast or rejected when blind children are to be assessed. Given that blind children follow a unique developmental route, rehabilitation specialists must take account of the impact of blindness on children and think of them also as clinically a special population. Dependence on standardized tests for the primary information about any child is always suspect; with regard to a blind child it is irresponsible. The authors describe the characteristics of an approach that is both systemic and common-sense. They illustrate it by reference to a new procedure (The Simmons-Davidson Developmental Profile) and to a case study.