This study, involving 20 children (ages 6-12) with legal blindness or partial sight, explored the relationships between ability to read and performance on tasks which require the manipulation of figure/ground relations. Significant differences were found between fluent readers and poor readers/nonreaders on four of the six tasks. No age…

This study compared improvements in visual function of 20 Spanish children with low vision, ages 4 to 6 years. Children received either the Barraga and Morris program or the Frostig program, or placebo control or no treatment. No significant differences between treatment groups were found. (DB)

The resource book is designed to help in delivering materials and services to visually handicapped students. A flow chart describes a materials delivery system, and separate sections address information (such as acquisition, production, duplication, materials needed, and alternatives) for braille, large print, and tape. Other considerations…

An orientation and mobility curriculum developed in Tulare County, California, includes 30 units for legally blind, partially sighted, multi-impaired, and low functioning sighted students in grades K through 12. Each section includes eight steps to teach basic concepts. Assessment guidelines are used to determine strengths and deficiencies. The 30…

Designed for educational psychologists, the paper discusses the range of tests used for assessing visually handicapped children. Specific tests used in Britain for preschool children (including the Williams Intelligence Test for Children with Defective Vision and the Social Maturity Scale for Blind Pre-school Children) and for school aged children…

Reported is an international survey on training and employment opportunities for the visually handicapped. Described are responses to a questionnaire carried out jointly by the Committee on Professional and Urban Employment of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, The International Labor Organization and the Swedish National Labor Market…

Presented are the findings of a national health examination survey of uncorrected and corrected monocular and binocular visual acuity of 7,514 noninstitutionalized youth 12 to 17 years of age analyzed with respect to age, sex, race, geographic region, size of place of residence, and annual family income. Among findings reported are that 70 0/0 of…

Tested was the premise that the academic competencies of visually impaired learners could be enhanced by training procedures that combine auditory and visual skills in a project using the Monterey Learning Systems Reading and Mathematics Programs with 29 visually impaired print readers. (Author/MH)

Services provided 124 visually impaired students involved in a federal demonstration project in Oakland County, Michigan, (1979-1980) involved preliminary assessments, referral to a low vision specialist, and follow-up training. Development of a general remediation scheme and a team approach facilitated follow-up care and use of low vision aids.…

Some cautions regarding the early educational uses of optical aids with visually impaired children are suggested, based on widely held assumptions and recent findings in the fields of perception and reading. The change from the sight conservation era to one advocating the maximum use of remaining vision is traced. (Author/SW)

Nigeria is starting to put into practice recommendations for blind children from the Oxford Conference of 1949. Recommendations include general and vocational education in schools adequately equipped and with qualified teachers, and education according to interest and aptitudes equal to what they would have received had they not been blind.…

A study investigated whether the reading difficulties of 60 Dutch children with low vision were a matter of reduced visual input or a consequence of a lack of orthographic knowledge. Results indicated that reduced visual input was the only cause of the children's lower reading performance. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This article summarizes results of statistical analyses of an intelligence test for 155 braille-educated blind and low-vision children, aged 6-15, in the Netherlands. Results indicate some accuracy in predicting academic achievement; factor analysis indicates 4 interpretable factors in children with and without usable vision. (Author/PB)