THIS RESEARCH ATTEMPTED TO ESTABLISH A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEMS OF CONGENITALLY TOTALLY BLIND CHILDREN AND TO TEST THE POSSIBILITY OF MEETING THESE PROBLEMS WITH A SPECIAL TRAINING PROGRAM IN GENERAL ORIENTATION AND SPACE PERCEPTION. A SAMPLE OF 60 CHILDREN WAS SELECTED FOR THE EXPERIMENT. THESE SUBJECTS WERE WITHOUT ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL HANDICAPS AND WERE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 5 AND 14. THOSE CHILDREN WHO WERE UNABLE TO EXPLORE AND INVESTIGATE ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI IN A SPATIAL RELATIONS TEST AND THROUGH SUPERVISORY OBSERVATION WERE SELECTED FOR SPECIAL TRAINING IN AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP. THOSE WHO WERE MORE OR LESS ADEQUATE IN THE TESTING AND PROVED TO BE DEVELOPING NORMALLY, WERE SELECTED FOR THE CONTROL GROUP WHERE NO SPECIAL TRAINING WAS TO BE GIVEN. THE EFFECTS OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM WERE MEASURED BY TESTS, OBSERVATIONS AND RATINGS. THE TOTAL SAMPLE WAS DIVIDED ALMOST IN HALF BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS. THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS OF SPACE ORGANIZATION WERE SELECTED FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP--(1) AWARENESS OF POSTURAL CHANGES, (2) CONCEPT AND MANIPULATION OF EXTENDED SURFACES, AND (3) OBJECT PERCEPTION AND LANGUAGE. STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT GAINS OVER THE CONTROL GROUP WERE SHOWN BY THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AFTER THE TRAINING PROGRAM WAS COMPLETED. HOWEVER, THE LEVEL ATTAINED WAS NOT YET EQUAL TO THE MEAN ORIGINAL LEVEL OF THE CONTROL GROUP. FURTHER STUDY WAS RECOMMENDED TO DEVELOP A MORE EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO SPATIAL PERCEPTUAL PATTERNS. (JH)