Blindness And Children

This study concludes that many aspects of delayed development are not the result of visual impairment itself, but rather of environmental variables that tend to accompany it, after summarizing and interpreting the research literature on infants and children with visual impairments.

Blind and visually impaired children experience the world in unique ways. To help them learn and develop, parents and teachers need to understand how such children relate to their environment. The authors offer practical strategies for encouraging the blind child's development and interaction. Paper edition (7700-5), $17.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Simple text and photographs describe children who are blind, their challenges and adaptations, and their similarities with others.

The Classic Edition of this foundational text includes a new preface from Miguel Pérez-Pereira, examining how the field has developed since first publication. The volume provides an in-depth account of blind children's developing communicative abilities, with particular emphasis on social cognition and language acquisition from infancy to early school age. It provides insights into why the development of blind children may differ from that of sighted children and explores development of "theory of mind" and perspective taking in language learning. It also discusses the caregiver–child interaction, research on early intervention and practical strategies for blind children that can assist parents and practitioners. The up-to-date preface discusses recent neurological research and the comparison between the psychological development of visually impaired and autistic children. Language Development and Social Interaction in Blind Children continues to facilitate dialogue between those interested in the study of typically developing children and those interested in the development of children who are blind, and challenges some widely held beliefs about the development of communication in blind children.

Cerebral visual impairment (also known as cortical visual impairment, or CVI) has become the most common cause of visual impairment in children in the United States and the developed world. Vision and the Brain is a unique and comprehensive sourcebook geared especially to professionals in the field of visual impairment, educators, and families who need to know more about the causes and types of CVI and the best practices for working with affected children. Expert contributors from many countries represent education, occupational therapy, orientation and mobility, ophthalmology, optometry, neuropsychology, psychology, and vision science, and include parents of children with CVI. The book provides an in-depth guide to current knowledge about brain-related vision loss in an accessible form to enable readers to recognize, understand, and assess the behavioral manifestations of damage to the visual brain and develop effective interventions based on identification of the spectrum of individual needs. Chapters are designed to help those working with children with CVI ascertain the nature and degree of visual impairment in each child, so that they can "see" and appreciate the world through the child's eyes and ensure that every child is served appropriately.