A Journey into the World of the Blind Child

Abstract

A comparative study of blind and sighted children in the 5 to 7 year age range was made, based on the responses to the Kephart Scale. It was found that blind children have misinformation, fragmented concepts, and a limited use of differentiation of information. Deprived of the visual process, they are deprived of a wide range of information gathering that is available to sighted children. This deprivation does not seem to be sufficiently compensated for by giving them auditory and tactile information. A Gestalt type of information coding, using a more nearly life-like situation, appears necessary in the coding process. The results indicate that there are areas of research available which should be influential in offering broader curricula.

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