Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Congenital Visual Impairment

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Research in Clinical Pragmatics

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 11))

Abstract

Language is assumed to have particular importance for the child with visual impairment (VI), serving a facilitative role in developing understanding. Children and young people with VI often demonstrate very good structural language ability but have greater difficulty in pragmatic language, which involves the flexible use of language within the social context. Differences in early social responsivity, communication and language skills between children with VI and their sighted peers are evident from infancy, and subsequently the developmental trajectory to fluent language appears to differ in children with VI. In developing pragmatic language and social communicative skills, the importance of conceptualisation of the environment, play, parent-child interaction, shared attention and theory of mind has been highlighted. These areas of research are discussed and it is argued that there is a broad impact of VI on development. There is controversy over the degree to which pragmatic language difficulties in children with VI can be explained by the child’s limited visual input rather than by a true pragmatic difficulty per se. We argue that there is individual variability, with some children appearing to overcome the challenges of developing social communication and pragmatic language in the absence of visual input, but with a significant proportion showing greater difficulty.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Absoud, M., Parr, J. R., Salt, A., & Dale, N. (2011). Developing a schedule to identify social communication difficulties and autism spectrum disorder in young children with visual impairment. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 53(3), 285–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, C. (2002). Practitioner review: The assessment of language pragmatics. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(8), 973–987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, E. S., Dunlea, A., & Kekelis, L. S. (1984). Blind children’s language: Resolving some differences. Journal of Child Language, 11(3), 645–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baird, S. M., Mayfield, P., & Baker, P. (1997). Mothers’ interpretations of the behavior of their infants with visual and other impairments during interactions. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 91(5), 467–483.

    Google Scholar 

  • Begeer, S., Dik, M., Marieke, J., Asbrock, D., Brambring, M., & Kef, S. (2014). A new look at theory of mind in children with ocular and ocular-plus congenital blindness. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 108(1), 17–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigelow, A. (1987). Early words of blind children. Journal of Child Language, 14(1), 47–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bigelow, A. E. (2003). The development of joint attention in blind infants. Development and Psychopathology, 15(2), 259–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V. M. (2003). The Children’s Communication Checklist: CCC-2. London: Harcourt Assessment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, D. V., & Adams, C. (1989). Conversational characteristics of children with semantic pragmatic disorder II: What features lead to a judgement of inappropriacy? International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 24(3), 241–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, M., Hobson, R. P., & Lee, A. (2005). Symbolic play in congenitally blind children. Development and Psychopathology, 17(2), 447–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. (1978). Language development and language disorders. New Jersey: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brambring, M. (2007). Divergent development of verbal skills in children who are blind or sighted. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 101(12), 749–762.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brambring, M., & Asbrock, D. (2010). Validity of false belief tasks in blind children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40(12), 1471–1484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cary, M. S. (1978). The role of gaze in the initiation of conversation. Social Psychology, 41(3), 269–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cass, H. D., Sonksen, P. M., & McConachie, H. R. (1994). Developmental setback in severe visual impairment. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 70(3), 192–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale, N. (2005). Early signs of developmental setback and autism in infants with severe visual impairment. In L. Pring (Ed.), Autism and blindness: Research and reflections (pp. 74–98). London: Whurr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale, P., & Crain-Thoreson, C. (1993). Pronoun reversals: Who, when and why? Journal of Child Language, 20(3), 573–589.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale, N., & Salt, A. (2007). Early support developmental journal for children with visual impairment: The case for a new developmental framework for early intervention. Child: Care, Health and Development, 33(6), 684–690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale, N., & Sonksen, P. (2002). Developmental outcome, including setback, in young children with severe visual impairment. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 44(9), 613–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale, N., O’Reilly, M., Sakkalou, E., Bathelt, J., Sakki, H., de Haan, M., & Salt, A. (2013). The Optimum Visual Impairment (VI) Project: Evaluation of early intervention and development. Presented at the 14th Biennial Meeting of the Child Vision Research Society, Toronto, 17–19 June 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale, N. J., Tadić, V., & Sonksen, P. (2014). Social communicative variation in 1–3 year-olds with severe visual impairment. Child: Care, Health and Development, 40(2), 158–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vaan, G., Knoors, H., Verhoeven, L., & Vervloed, M. P. (2013). Autism spectrum disorders in people with sensory and intellectual disabilities: Symptom overlap and differentiating characteristics. INTECH Open Access Publisher. http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/43427.pdf. Accessed 23 May 2016.

  • Dunlea, A. (1989). Vision and the emergence of meaning: Blind and sighted children’s early language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dyck, M. J., Farrugia, C., Shochet, I. M., & Holmes-Brown, M. (2004). Emotion recognition/ understanding ability in hearing or vision-impaired children: Do sounds, sights, or words make the difference? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(4), 789–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, C. J., & Pring, L. (2006). Generating inferences from written and spoken language: A comparison of children with visual impairment and children with sight. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(2), 337–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erin, J. N. (1986). Frequencies and types of questions in the language of visually impaired children. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 80(4), 670–674.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, K. E., & Demuth, K. (2012). Individual differences in pronoun reversal: Evidence from two longitudinal case studies. Journal of Child Language, 39(1), 162–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fay, W. H. (1973). On the echolalia of the blind and the autistic child. The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 38(4), 478–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D. J., & Pethick, S. J. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5), 1–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraiberg, S. (1977). Insights from the Blind. London: Souvenir.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galati, D., Sini, B., Schmidt, S., & Tinti, C. (2003). Spontaneous facial expressions in congenitally blind and sighted children aged 8–11. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 97(7), 418–428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gense, M. H., & Gense, D. J. (2005). Autism spectrum disorders and visual impairment. New York: American Foundation for the Blind Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleitman, L., & Landau, B. (2012). Every child an isolate: Nature’s experiments in language learning. In M. Piattelli-Palmarini & R. C. Berwick (Eds.), Rich languages from poor inputs (pp. 91–104). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Green, S., Pring, L., & Swettenham, J. (2004). An investigation of first-order false belief understanding of children with congenital profound visual impairment. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenaway, R., Pring, L., Schepers, A., Isaacs, D. P., & Dale, N. J. (2016). Neuropsychological presentation and adaptive skills in high-functioning adolescents with visual impairment: A preliminary investigation. Applied Neuropsychology. Child. To appear.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. G. E. (1993). Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: A test of relevance theory. Cognition, 48(2), 101–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F. G. E. (1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters’ thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(2), 129–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatton, D. D., Bailey, D. B., Burchinaland, M. R., & Ferrell, K. A. (1997). Developmental growth curves of preschool children with vision impairments. Child Development, 68(5), 788–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, P. (1993). Autism and the development of mind. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, J. A., & Hobson, R. P. (2007). Identification: The missing link between joint attention and imitation? Development and Psychopathology, 19(2), 411–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26(1), 55–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudry, K., Leadbitter, K., Temple, K., Slonims, V., McConachie, H., Aldred, C., et al. (2010). Preschoolers with autism show greater impairment in receptive compared with expressive language abilities. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 45(6), 681–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, M., Dote-Kwan, J., & Dolendo, J. (1999). Characteristics of maternal directiveness and responsiveness with young children with visual impairments. Child: Care, Health and Development, 25(4), 285–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, T., & Mason, H. (1995). Performance of blind children on digit-span tests. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 89(2), 166–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurtig, R., Ensrud, S., & Tomblin, J. B. (1982). The communicative function of question production in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 12(1), 57–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson, J. M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2001). The resilience of gesture in talk: Gesture in blind speakers and listeners. Developmental Science, 4(4), 416–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson, J. M., Tencer, H. L., Lany, J., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2000). The relation between gesture and speech in congenitally blind and sighted language-learners. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24(2), 105–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, D. M., & Stojanovik, V. (2007). Communication skills in blind children: A preliminary investigation. Child: Care, Health and Development, 33(1), 4–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kekelis, L. S., & Andersen, E. S. (1984). Family communication styles and language development. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 78(2), 54–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kekelis, L. S., & Prinz, P. M. (1996). Blind and sighted children with their mothers: The development of discourse skills. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 90(5), 423–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, M. (1984). The role of repeated and echoed utterances in communication with a blind child. British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 19(2), 135–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korkmaz, B. (2011). Theory of mind and neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. Pediatric Research, 69(5 Pt 2), 101R–108R.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landau, B., & Gleitman, L. R. (1985). Language and experience: Evidence from the blind child. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, V., Norgate, S., Collis, G., & Reynolds, R. (2000). The consequences of visual impairment for children’s symbolic and functional play. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(3), 449–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luyster, R. J., Kadlec, M. B., Carter, A., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2008). Language assessment and development in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(8), 1426–1438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markova, G., & Smolík, F. (2014). What do you think? The relationship between person reference and communication about the mind in toddlers. Social Development, 23(1), 61–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, I., & McDonald, S. (2003). Weak coherence, no theory of mind, or executive dysfunction? Solving the puzzle of pragmatic language disorders. Brain and Language, 85(3), 451–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McConachie, H. (1990). Early language development and severe visual impairment. Child: Care, Health and Development, 16(1), 55–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • McConachie, H. R., & Moore, V. (1994). Early expressive language of severely visually impaired children. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 36(3), 230–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGinnis, A. R. (1981). Functional linguistic strategies of blind children. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 75(5), 210–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minter, M., Hobson, R. P., & Bishop, M. (1998). Congenital visual impairment and theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16(2), 183–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, V., & McConachie, H. (1994). Communication between blind and severely visually impaired children and their parents. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12(4), 491–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M., & Smith, P. (2008). Educational provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people in Britain. Berkshire: National Foundation for Educational Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukaddes, N. M., Kilincaslan, A., Kucukyazici, G., Sevketoglu, T., & Tuncer, S. (2007). Autism in visually impaired individuals. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 61(1), 39–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulford, R. (1988). First words of the blind child. In M. D. Smith & J. L. Locke (Eds.), The emergent lexicon: The child’s development of a linguistic vocabulary (pp. 293–338). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norbury, C. F. (2005). The relationship between theory of mind and metaphor: Evidence from children with language impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23(3), 383–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norbury, C. F. (2014). Practitioner review: Social (pragmatic) communication disorder conceptualization, evidence and clinical implications. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(3), 204–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norgate, S. H. (1997). Research methods for studying the language of blind children. In N. H. Hornberger & D. Corson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (pp. 165–173). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Norgate, S., Collis, G. M., & Lewis, V. (1998). The developmental role of rhymes and routines for congenitally blind children. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive, 17(2), 451–477.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, M., Sakkalou, E., de Haan, M., Salt, A., & Dale, N. (2015). Neural correlates of socio-cognitive processing in the visually impaired infant brain. Presented at the 15th Biennial Meeting of the Child Vision Research Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 14–17 June 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parr, J. R., Dale, N. J., Shaffer, L. M., & Salt, A. T. (2010). Social communication difficulties and autism spectrum disorder in young children with optic nerve hypoplasia and/or septo-optic dysplasia. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 52(10), 917–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, N. S. (2001). The role of prefabricated language in young children’s second language acquisition. Bilingual Research Journal, 25(3), 327–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Pereira, M. P. (1999). Deixis, personal reference, and the use of pronouns by blind children. Journal of Child Language, 26(3), 655–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Pereira, M. P. (2014). Contrasting views on the pragmatic abilities of blind children. Enfance, 2014(1), 73–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Pereira, M., & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2005). Do blind children show autistic features? In L. Pring (Ed.), Autism and blindness: Research and reflections (pp. 99–127). London: Whurr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Pereira, M., & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2013). Language development and social interaction in blind children. Hove: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, A. M. (1987). The role of imitation in the developing syntax of a blind child. Text: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 7(3), 289–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. C., Peterson, J. L., & Webb, J. (2000). Factors influencing the development of a theory of mind in blind children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(3), 431–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pijnacker, J., Vervloed, M. P., & Steenbergen, B. (2012). Pragmatic abilities in children with congenital visual impairment: An exploration of non-literal language and advanced theory of mind understanding. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(11), 2440–2449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., Nissen, M. J., & Klein, R. M. (1976). Visual dominance: An information-processing account of its origins and significance. Psychological Review, 83(2), 157–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preisler, G. M. (1991). Early patterns of interaction between blind infants and their sighted mothers. Child: Care, Health and Development, 17(2), 65–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pring, L., Dewart, H., & Brockbank, M. (1998). Social cognition in children with visual impairments. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 92(11), 754–768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prizant, B. M. (1983). Language acquisition and communicative behavior in autism: Toward an understanding of the whole of it. The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 48(3), 296–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prizant, B. M. (1987). Toward an understanding of verbal repetition in the language of visually-impaired children. Australian Journal of Human Communication Disorders, 15(1), 79–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prizant, B. M., & Duchan, J. F. (1981). The functions of immediate echolalia in autistic children. The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46(3), 241–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahi, J. S., Cable, N., & British Childhood Visual Impairment Study Group. (2003). Severe visual impairment and blindness in children in the UK. The Lancet, 362(9393), 1359–1365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rattray, J., & Zeedyk, M. S. (2005). Early communication in dyads with visual impairment. Infant and Child Development, 14(3), 287–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynell, J. (1978). Developmental patterns of visually handicapped children. Child: Care, Health and Development, 4(5), 291–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynell, J. (1979). Manual for the Reynell-Zinkin scales. London: NFER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricard, M., Girouard, P. C., & Decarie, T. G. (1999). Personal pronouns and perspective taking in toddlers. Journal of Child Language, 26(3), 681–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricciardi, E., Bonino, D., Pellegrini, S., & Pietrini, P. (2014). Mind the blind brain to understand the sighted one! Is there a supramodal cortical functional architecture? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 41, 64–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roch-Levecq, A. C. (2006). Production of basic emotions by children with congenital blindness: Evidence for the embodiment of theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(3), 507–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Röder, B., Rösler, F., & Neville, H. J. (2000). Event-related potentials during auditory language processing in congenitally blind and sighted people. Neuropsychologia, 38(11), 1482–1502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Röder, B., Stock, O., Bien, S., Neville, H., & Rösler, F. (2002). Speech processing activates visual cortex in congenitally blind humans. European Journal of Neuroscience, 16(5), 930–936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roe, J. (2008). Social inclusion: Meeting the socio-emotional needs of children with vision needs. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 26(2), 147–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, S. J., & Puchalski, C. B. (1984). Development of symbolic play in visually impaired young children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 3(4), 57–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosel, J., Caballer, A., Jara, P., & Oliver, J. C. (2005). Verbalism in the narrative language of children who are blind and sighted. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 99(7), 413–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakkalou, E., O’Reilly, M., Sakki, H., de Haan, M., Salt, A., & Dale, N. (2013). Investigation of infant development and mother-infant interactions in infants with visual impairment. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 55, 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakkalou, E., MacKechnie, R., O’Reilly, M., de Haan, M., Salt, A., & Dale, N. J. (2015). Developing a new ‘Visual Impairment and Social Communication Observation Schedule (VISCOS)’: Early social communication and behaviour profiles in children with severe visual impairment (VI) who are at risk for autism. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 57(S4), 62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sak-Wernicka, J. (2016). Exploring theory of mind use in blind adults during natural communication. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. To appear.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, A. L., & Prizant, B. M. (1985). Echolalia. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Communication problems in autism (pp. 163–184). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Semel, E., Wiig, E. H., & Secord, W. (1995). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals (3rd ed.). San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., Tucker, L., Pasco, G., Hudry, K., Elsabbagh, M., Charman, T., & Johnson, M. H. (2013). The importance of the eyes: Communication skills in infants of blind parents. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 280: 20130436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0436. Accessed 23 May 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonksen, P. M. (1983). Vision and early development. In K. Wybar & D. Taylor (Eds.), Paediatric ophthalmology: Current aspects (pp. 85–95). New York: Marcel Dekker.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonksen, P. M., & Dale, N. (2002). Visual impairment in infancy: Impact on neurodevelopmental and neurobiological processes. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 44(11), 782–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterponi, L., & Shankey, J. (2014). Rethinking echolalia: Repetition as interactional resource in the communication of a child with autism. Journal of Child Language, 41(2), 275–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tadić, V., Pring, L., & Dale, N. (2010). Are language and social communication intact in children with congenital visual impairment at school age? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(6), 696–705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tadić, V., Pring, L., & Dale, N. (2013). Story discourse and use of mental state language between mothers and school-aged children with and without visual impairment. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 48(6), 679–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. In F. Volkmar, R. Paul, & A. Klin (Eds.), Handbook on autism and pervasive developmental disorders (pp. 335–364). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (1988). The role of joint attentional processes in early language development. Language Sciences, 10(1), 69–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trӧster, H., & Brambring, M. (1992). Early social-emotional development in blind infants. Child: Care, Health and Development, 18(4), 207–227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trӧster, H., & Brambring, M. (1994). The play behavior and play materials of blind and sighted infants and preschoolers. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 88(5), 421–432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urwin, C. (1979). Preverbal communication and early language development in blind children. Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 17, 119–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urwin, C. (1984). Communication in infancy and the emergence of language in blind children. In R. L. Schieffelbusch & J. Pickar (Eds.), The acquisition of communicative competence (pp. 479–520). Baltimore: University Park Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vervloed, M. P., Loijens, N. E., & Waller, S. E. (2014). Teaching the meaning of words to children with visual impairments. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 108(5), 433–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinter, A., Fernandes, V., Orlandi, O., & Morgan, P. (2013). Verbal definitions of familiar objects in blind children reflect their peculiar perceptual experience. Child: Care, Health and Development, 39(6), 856–863.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volden, J., Coolican, J., Garon, N., White, J., & Bryson, S. (2009). Brief report: pragmatic language in autism spectrum disorder: Relationships to measures of ability and disability. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(2), 388–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vukovic, N., & Williams, J. N. (2015). Individual differences in spatial cognition influence mental simulation of language. Cognition, 142, 110–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, D. H. (1984). Blindness and early childhood development. New York: American Foundation for the Blind.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, D. H. (1994). Blindness and children: An individual differences approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, D. H., & Hatton, D. D. (2002). Cognitive development in visually impaired children. In I. Rapin & S. Segalowitz (Eds.), Elsevier’s handbook of neuropsychology (pp. 439–538). New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurodisability Service, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Rebecca Greenaway & Naomi J. Dale

  2. UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK

    Naomi J. Dale

Authors
  1. Rebecca Greenaway
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naomi J. Dale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Greenaway .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Louise Cummings

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Greenaway, R., Dale, N.J. (2017). Congenital Visual Impairment. In: Cummings, L. (eds) Research in Clinical Pragmatics. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47487-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47489-2

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation