Developmental patterns of visually handicapped children

This article reports a comparative study of the developmental patterns of blind, partially sighted and fully sighted children during the first few years of life. Using the (previous reported) Reynell-Zinkin developmental scale for visually handicapped children, the groups were compared in the five developmental areas of (a) social adaptation, (b) sensori-motor understanding, (c) exploration of environment, (d) verbal comprehension and (e) expressive language. It was found that 10 to 12 months was the age at which the sighted group began to outstrip the visually handicapped children in most of the developmental areas. This divergence increased until towards, the upper end of scale (4 to 5 years for the visually handicapped) when more abstract thought processes began to develop. The effect of visual handicap was also seen in the greater advantage of the partially sighted over the blind children. The patterns of development varied somewhat in the five different areas. The reasons for this are discussed. The findings point to the need for intensive help for visually handicapped children from the earliest months of life.