To investigate the ability of 48 blind and partially sighted children (8 to 10 and 12 to 14 years old) to assume the upright position, Ss were given six trials in which they were requested to move themselves from a tilted starting position in a specially constructed chair to an upright position. No significant differences were found between three…

The Night Vision Aid (NVA) was evaluated to determine its effectiveness as an orientation and mobility aid for legally blind persons with night blindness. On the average, the NVA did not significantly improve the Ss' mobility at night; the majority of them preferred the Wide Angle Mobility Light. (CL)

This study of 12 individuals with blindness or low vision extended earlier studies by Morton Heller concerning speed and accuracy of reading noncanonical (tilted) braille text. Results were similar for Heller's original character set (B-J), but the effect of orientation was reduced with other letters and whole words, especially for experienced…

Defined in the booklet is the visually handicapped population that could benefit from use of binoculars, and described with photographs are uses of binoculars and additional equipment. Categories of the visually handicapped and concomitant population sizes are examined to stress the point that approximately 1.64 million Americans are partially…

The report provides preliminary findings of a study on the speed of processing visual information by partially sighted children. Findings revealed considerable variation in performance and suggested that some partially AL sighted children may not be able to cope with the test's time demands. (CL)

Of 111 Detroit elementary school students who were examined on the Kraus-Weber Minimum Physical Fitness Test to determine the relationship between visual handicap and physical fitness, 95 percent of the normally sighted, 84 percent of the partially sighted, and 46 percent of the blind students passed the test. (Author/MC)

Visual scanning behavior and efficiency of 22 children with visual disabilities and 25 children without disabilities (ages 3.5 to 10 years) were studied. Significant differences were found between groups in length of scan path and number of objects reported, but no significant differences in scanning efficiency. Coordinated binocular eye movements…

Analysis of interview results were used to compare the perceptions of mothers (N=16) of infants (half typically developing, five with low vision, and three with blindness). Although all parents reported similar levels of receptive understanding, parents of infants with low vision or blindness reported less expressive preverbal communication.…

This study investigated improving the usability of a mainstream cell phone for use by individuals with low vision by providing a means to display the text of the keys in large print on the phone's screen. Two enlarging techniques (suspend and display and delay and display) were developed, and the programs were loaded into the cell phone. The…

A study involving two college students with visual impairments which made them incapable of accommodating visually revealed that Ss improved recognition efficiency with feedback but did not generalize the efficiency from trained to untrained stimuli of similar complexity. (CL)

Based on a 1976 Census Bureau survey and a 1977 National Center for Health Statistics survey, statistics are presented on employment of blind and low vision persons. (CL)

The ability of 16 school-age children with visual impairments and their sighted peers to recognize faces was compared. Although no intergroup differences were found in ability to identify entire faces, the visually impaired children were at a disadvantage when part of the face, especially the eyes, was not visible. Degree of visual acuity also…

Comparison of 2 totally blind, 2 visually impaired, and 9 normally sighted children (ages 5-8) on tasks of visual perspective taking found that the totally blind children were older than the other children when they mastered the tasks, made the highest percentage of errors before mastery, and made different errors. (Author/DB)

Thirty children with partial sight and 30 children with unimpaired sight (all 8- to 12-years old) received either verbal-mediation or visual-mediation training regimes. The verbal mediation training was superior to visual mediation training on a problem-solving task for both children with partial sight and children without visual impairments.…

Short term group counseling via the telephone resulted in marked increases in activities of daily living among 12 legally blind veterans. Many subjects' personal coping goals were met as well, and social involvement also increased. No significant changes in levels of depression or agitation were noted. (CL)