Hand ability and practice in congenitally blind children

Title

Hand ability and practice in congenitally blind children

Creator

Ittyerah M.

Description

The assumption that blind children will improve in ability with practice in spatial tasks was tested in a group of 90 congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted children between the ages of 5 and 15 years. All the children were tested for hand preference. The children were then pre-tested and post-tested on four tasks that measured various hand skills with their left and right hands. The period of practice between the pre and post-test was four months. Results indicated a percentage gain with practice during development for the left and the right hands of the blind children. The left and right hands of both groups of children did not differ in percentage gain, indicating little or no relationship between hand preference and hand ability. The effects of practice showed gains for the blind children compared to the sighted blindfolded children in the post-test. Results are discussed with a view that use of self- referent cues can improve spatial ability in blind children. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.

Source

Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, Vol-21, No. 5, pp. 329-344.

Date

2009-01-01

Subject

Blind; Practice; Proficiency; Self reference; Spatial

Coverage

Ittyerah M., Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore-29, India

Rights

Restricted Access

Relation

ISSN: 1056263X

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-009-9146-8

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