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Balance and motor coordination are not fully developed in 7-year-old blind children
Andréa Sanchez Navarro1, Marcia Maiumi Fukujima, Sissy Veloso Fontes
1Universidade Bandeirante de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. andreasn@uol.com.br
Insights
Congenitally visually impaired children exhibit challenges in body and spatial recognition. This neuro-psychomotor development study found significant impairments in balance and coordination for blind children compared to sighted peers.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Visually impaired children often face difficulties with body awareness, object recognition, and spatial understanding, crucial for independence.
- Neuro-psychomotor development is essential for a child's overall growth and functional abilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze and compare the neuro-psychomotor development of congenitally visually impaired children versus normally sighted children.
- To identify specific areas of neuro-psychomotor function affected by visual impairment in early childhood.
Main Methods:
- A comparative study involving two groups of seven-year-old children: 20 with congenital visual impairment and 20 with normal sight.
- Neurological Evolution Examination (NEE) was used to assess neuro-psychomotor development, with blind children utilizing tactile guidance in some tests.
- Participants were matched for age and gender to ensure comparability.
Main Results:
- Visually impaired children demonstrated significantly poorer performance in tests assessing balance (p<0.001).
- Appendage coordination was also significantly impaired in the blind group compared to the sighted control group (p<0.001).
- These findings indicate a negative impact of visual deficiency on neuro-psychomotor development.
Conclusions:
- Congenital visual impairment is associated with deficits in neuro-psychomotor development, particularly in balance and coordination.
- Early identification and targeted interventions may be beneficial for visually impaired children to address these developmental challenges.
- Further research could explore the long-term implications and specific neural mechanisms underlying these observed differences.
Abstract:
Visually impaired children show difficulties in recognizing their own bodies, objects around then and the spatial parameters that are essential for independent movement. This study analyzes the neuro-psychomotor development of a group of congenitally visually impaired children as compared to children with normal sight. We have evaluated two groups of seven-year-olds by means of neurological evolution examination (NEE). The group studied comprised 20 blind children and the control group comprised 20 children with normal sight, and they were paired up according to age and gender. In some tests, the blind children were guided by touch. The visually impaired children performed worse in tests evaluating balance and appendage coordination compared to normal sighted children (p< 0.001), and this suggests that visual deficiency impairs children's neuro-psychomotor development.
