Parents’ answers to a survey of their children’s play behavior revealed numerous differences between the play behavior of children who are blind and children who are sighted. The main findings were that the sighted children engaged in more complex levels of play at an earlier age than did the blind children, the blind children interacted less frequently with other children than did the sighted children, the blind children preferred tactile-auditory games and toys and rarely engaged in symbolic games.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BrambringM., DobslawG., KleeK., ObermannS., & TrösterH. (1987). Bielefelder Elternfragebogen für blinde und sehende Klein-und Vorschulkinder[Bielefeld parents' questionnaire for blind and sighted infants and preschoolers]. Bielefeld, Germany: University of Bielefeld, Special Research Unit on Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence.
2.
BrambringM. & TrösterH. (1991). Das spielverhalten blinder und sehender Kinder— Stand der Forschung [The play behavior of blind and sighted children—The state of research]. Heilpädogogische Forschung, 17, 129-139.
3.
BurlinghamD. (1961). Some notes on the development of the blind. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 16, 187-198.
4.
BurlinghamD. (1965). Some problems of the ego development in blind children. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 20, 194-208.
5.
BurlinghamD. (1967). Developmental considerations in the occupations of the blind. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 22, 187-198.
6.
BurlinghamD. (1972). Psychoanalytic studies of the sighted and the blind. New York: International Universities Press.
7.
BurlinghamD. (1975). Special problems of blind infants: Blind baby profile. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 30, 3-14.
8.
BeinG.G. (1978). Play revisited. In LambM. (Ed.), Social and personality development (pp. 70-91). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
9.
FerrellK.A. (1986). Infancy and early childhood. In SchollG.T. (Ed.), Foundations of education for blind and visually handicapped children and youth: Theory and practice (pp. 119-136). New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
10.
FraibergS. (1968). Parallel and divergent patterns in blind and sighted infants. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 23, 264-300.
11.
FraibergS. (1977). Insights from the blind: Comparative studies of blind and sighted infants. New York: Basic Books.
12.
FraibergS. & AdelsonE. (1973). Self-representation in language and play: Observations of blind children. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 42, 539-562.
13.
FreemanR.D., GoetzE., RichardsP., Groen-veldM., BlockbergerS., JanJ.E., & SykandaA.M. (1989). Blind children's early emotional development: Do we know enough to help?Child: Care, Health and Development, 15, 3-28.
14.
LargoR.H. & HowardJ.A. (1979). Developmental progression in play behavior of children between nine and thirty months. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 21, 299-310.
15.
LowenfeldB. (1973). The visually handicapped child in school. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
16.
OlsonM.R. (1981). Enhancing the exploratory behavior of visually impaired preschoolers. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 75, 375-377.
17.
OlsonM.R. (1983). A study of the exploratory behavior of legally blind and sighted preschoolers. Exceptional Children, 50, 130-138.
18.
ParsonsS. (1986). Function of play in low vision children (Part 2): Emerging patterns of behavior. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 80, 777-784.
19.
PiagetJ. (1952). The origin of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.
20.
QuinnJ.M. & RubinK.H. (1984). The play of handicapped children. In YawkeyT.D. & PellegriniA.D. (Eds.), Child's play: Developmental and applied (pp. 63-80). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
RothschildJ. (1960). Play therapy with blind children. New Outlook for the Blind, 54, 329-333.
22.
RubinK.H., FeinG.G., & VanderbergB. (1983). Play. In MussenP.H. (Ed.)., Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 693-774). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
23.
SandlerA.-M. (1963). Aspects of passivity and ego development in the blind infant. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 18, 343-360.
24.
SandlerA.-M., & WillsD.M. (1965). Some notes on play and mastery in the blind child. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 1, 7-19.
25.
SchneeklothL.H. (1989). Play environments for visually impaired children. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 83, 196-201.
26.
Sutton-SmithB. (1976). Current research and theory on play, games, and sports. In CraigT. (Ed.), The humanistic and mental health aspects of sports, exercise and recreation. Chicago: American Medical Association.
27.
TaitP.E. (1972a). Behavior of young blind children in a controlled play situation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 34, 963-969.
28.
TaitP.E. (1972b). A descriptive analysis of the play of young blind children. Education of the Visually Handicapped, 4, 12-15.
29.
TaitP.E. (1972c). The implications of play as it relates to the emotional development of the blind child. Education of the Visually Handicapped, 4, 52-54.
30.
TrösterH. & BrambringM. (1992a). Early social-emotional development in blind infants. Child: Care, Health and Development, 18, 207-227.
31.
TrösterH. & BrambringM. (1992b). Spiele und spielmaterialien blinder und sehender Kinder im Kleinkind- und Vorschulalter [Play and play materials of blind and sighted children in infancy and childhood]. Heilpädagogische Forschung, 18, 22-34.
32.
TrösterH. & BrambringM. (1993). Early motor development in blind infants. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 14, 83-106.
33.
VondraH. & BelskyJ. (1991). Infant play as a window on competence and motivation. In SchaefferC., GitlinK., & SandgrundA. (Eds.), Play, diagnosis and assessment (pp. 13-33). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
34.
WarrenD. (1984). Blindness and early childhood development. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.
35.
WarrenD. (1989). Issues in the assessment and intervention with blind infants and children. In BrambringM., LoeselF., & SkowronekH. (Eds.), Children at risk: Assessment, longitudinal research, and intervention (pp. 119-135). New York: de Gruyter.
36.
WillsD.M. (1965). Some observations on blind nursery school children's understanding of their world. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 20, 344-364.
37.
WillsD.M. (1968). Problems of play and mastery in the blind child. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 41, 213-222.
38.
WillsD.M. (1970). Vulnerable periods in the early development of blind children. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 25, 461-480.
39.
WillsD.M. (1972). Problems of play and mastery in the blind child. In TrappE.P. & HimmelsteinP. (Eds.), Readings on the exceptional child (pp. 335-349). New York: Meredith.
40.
WillsD.M. (1979). The ordinary devoted mother and her blind baby. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 34, 31-49.
41.
WillsD.M. (1981). Some notes on the application of the diagnostic profile to young blind children. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 36, 217-237.