Several studies reported a higher prevalence of maladaptive behaviors in children and adolescents with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) compared with typically developing youths. Early studies reported that up to 57% of youths with visual impairments also have mental health problems. These include problems with…

Loss of vision is believed to have a great impact on the acquisition of spatial knowledge. The aims of the present study are to examine the performance of individuals with visual impairments on spatial tasks and the impact of residual vision on processing these tasks. In all, 28 individuals with visual impairments--blindness or low…

The present study compared psychological adjustment of 158 adolescents with vision impairment and 158 sighted adolescents with a matched-pair design using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adolescent self-reports and teacher reports on emotional problems, peer problems, and total difficulties showed higher scores in students with…

Because leisure activities are often viewed as optional, their value to people with disabilities may not be recognized. This study explored the benefits of leisure activities for eight young people who are blind. These activities provided them with supportive relationships, a desirable identity, experiences of power and control, and experiences of…

The article describes the response of 55 blind and partially sighted teenagers to genetic counseling and outlines their knowledge of their disability and their attitudes towards marriage and parenthood. It was concluded that the counseling was not cost-effective though such services were welcomed by the teenagers. (Author/DB)

Presents case studies of three adolescent boys with progressive vision loss who gradually became blind during adolescence. Examines the relationship between the boys' psychological adjustment to their blindness and their acquisition of braille reading skills. (Author)

Forty blind children and adolescents had to learn two unknown environments and then externalize the spatial representation via two methods--building a scale model and verbally estimating distances. High correlations were found between the two methods and between those methods and two systems of measuring mobility. (Author/JDD)

Comparison of two strategies--manual guidance only and manual guidance plus verbal prompts--with 6 students (ages 9 to 19) whose multiple disabilities included total blindness and severe mental retardation found that prompting methods that require shifting verbal information to the performance of a manual task may interfere with the learning of…

The occupational adjustment of handicapped adults is a matter that vitally concerns the schools in which handicapped children are taught. It is not a problem that can be ignored until the child becomes of employable age or until he is ready to leave school to go to work. The years which he spends in the classroom must at least furnish the…