M P J Vervloed, J Lommers, A Joosten, M Gompel
University of Nijmegen, Special Education, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Introduction
In contrast to the development of blind children the development of children with low vision is studied less often. This lack of research is probably due to the heterogeneity within this latter group. Despite the lack of a reasonable knowledge base, clinical professionals sometimes describe the behaviour of individual children with visual impairment as "typical" for children with vision loss. Aim of the present study was to study whether individual differences or group differences characterise the development of toddlers with visual impairments.
Methods
A group of 38 two and three year old children with visual impairment was studied and compared to 40 sighted children. Methods included a developmental assessment (Reynell-Zinkin scales for visually impaired children) and questionnaires (Toddler Temperament Questionnaire, Dimensions of Motivation Questionnaire, and Child Behavior Checklist). Until this day, temperament and mastery motivation, the How and Why of behaviour, have not been studied in visually impaired children.
Results
As expected, the sighted children performed significantly better on all the Reynell-Zinkin scales. After correction for developmental level, just a few differences were found between the visually impaired and sighted children in temperament, motivation and behaviour. The children with low vision had lower scores on general competence and social persistence with adults. They also showed more internalising problem behaviours and had more difficulty with adapting to new persons, events, and objects than sighted children.
Conclusion
The results of the study urges clinicians to be careful to denote behaviour as being "typical" for the development of visually impaired toddlers and to consider individual differences within the group of visually impaired toddlers as more important.
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