The Sound Path

Abstract

David is a three-year-old boy with congenital blindness. He attends a full-day child care program and receives special education and related services through a contract with the local school system. His class spends large blocks of time on the playground daily. The playground, however, appeared to be a scary place for David. Unlike his classmates without disabilities, David did not have fun on the playground, and he appeared lost in this large space. He held a teacher's hand or was held by a teacher much of the time and did not play on the available equipment unless directed by a teacher. Sometimes he pushed a toy shopping cart on a concrete track for riding tricycles. Yet when David bumped into the fence, he did not back up and change directions; rather, he stopped and cried. He engaged in frequent head shaking and body rocking. There were few contacts with peers, unless they initiated to him, but those initiations were infrequent.