The introduction in the early 1960's of the Cranmer abacus as a computational aid for blind persons caused a “mathematical explosion” in the mathematics curriculum for blind children. A number of studies are cited to show that the abacus has a positive effect on the development of arithmetic skills and that its use in residential schools is now very widespread. Blind children enrolled in public schools are very often still using other devices, although the abacus is gaining in popularity.
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