Experienced teachers have long asserted that children blind from retinoblastoma (Rb), a rare cancer of the eye, are of above average intelligence. To test this hypothesis, standardized verbal intelligence tests were administered to a sample of 85 children and adults, all diagnosed with the early infancy form of this condition. For 42 of the Rb…

This article explores how visual impairment might impact on early social and emotional development including self-awareness and communication with others. Some children show a "developmental setback" and other worrying developmental trajectories in the early years, including autistic related behaviours and autistic spectrum disorders.…

Describes the use of activity boxes with 43 young children with blindness, deaf-blindness, or severe learning disabilities and visual impairments. Discusses the contribution such boxes make to intellectual development, particularly the development of voluntary hand function from the integration of the primitive grasp-and-release instincts shown by…