Five male learning disabled students (eight to 13 years old) learned more words using the nonpreferred hand in tactile processing to remediate reading than with the preferred hand. (CL)

Signs selected from lists used in studies with mentally retarded and autistic children and previously rated for visual iconicity were presented tactilely to 13 blind adults and adolescents. Visual and tactile ratings were found to be very similar across blind, deaf, and hearing-sighted adults and hearing-sighted children. (Author/CL)

Examination of hypothesis-testing and nonlinguistic symbolic abilities of 10 language impaired and 10 language normal children revealed that language impaired Ss performed significantly more poorly than controls on haptic recognition tasks and on a portion of the discrimination learning task. No differences were found between the groups' concept…

Examines, in 30 normal infants from three age groups, differences in exploratory and sucking responses to artificial nipples varying in material and shape. Results suggest the existence of a developmental trend influenced by the type of nipple. Findings support the view that the mouth has a perceptual as well as a nutritive function. (Author/RH)

Four stages in the development of tactual perception are described (awareness of tactual quality, shape conception and recognition, graphic representation, and symbology systems). Educational applications for blind infants and children are given for each stage. (CL)

The studies involving two blind adults evaluated a new system-- Trigemina--that relates visual information to blind persons by tactile stimulation through a matrix of 10 x 10 vibrating rods applied to a postage stamp-sized area of skin over the forehead. (Author/SBH)

The study demonstrates that, with a brief training period, deaf adolescents (N=8) can attain a high level of perceptual performance with a tactual speech system in discrimination of certain hard to lipread word pairs pronounced by both a male and a female speaker. (Author/SBH)

To facilitate appropriate line choice for tactile graphic displays, 42 visually impaired Ss traced four types of tactile lines in a simple display (without intersections), and in a complex display (having intersections). (Author)

Investigated the feasibility of adding haptic and auditory displays to traditional visual geographic information systems (GISs). Explored differences in user performance, including task completion time and accuracy, and user satisfaction with a multimodal GIS which was implemented with a haptic display, auditory display, and combined display.…

Small-set segmental identification experiments were conducted with three deaf-blind subjects who were highly experienced users of the Tadoma method. Systematic variations in the positioning of the hand on the speaker's face for Tadoma produced systematic effects on percent-correct scores, information transfer, and perception of individual…

Many studies in visual face recognition have supported a special role for the right fusiform gyrus. Despite the fact that faces can also be recognized haptically, little is known about the neural correlates of haptic face recognition. In the current fMRI study, neurologically intact participants were intensively trained to identify specific…

This study examined the role of visual imagery in the centripetal execution principle (CEP), a graphic rule that is related to the drawing of complex figures that are composed of embedded geometric shapes. Sighted blindfolded children and children with early-onset low vision and early-onset blindness copied raised-line drawings (using only the…

This paper summarizes the results of a review of the empirical literature (1990-2005) focusing on use of assistive technology as a self-management tool for persons with intellectual disabilities. Forty investigations were identified which provided information on assistive technology to assist persons with disabilities to initiate and complete…

A series of studies on tangible pictures and their application to blind persons are reviewed and possible explanations for the suggestion of depth offered by outline drawings are discussed. Findings from ancient cave and rock art, together with drawings made by blind children and adults suggest that outline drawings contain some elements that are…

In order to determine whether tactile perception is a useful predictor of academic performance, 50 control and 42 brain impaired (epileptic) children (ages 9-14 years) were examined. (Author/PHR)