Fears of Visually Impaired Children

Abstract

The study reported here examined the number, content, and intensity of fears of 42 visually impaired children, aged 5–18. All children were administered the Fear Survey for Children with and without Mental Retardation. To obtain a different perception of children's fears, the authors also asked residential child care counselors to complete the survey for the children. Although the children had many fears, there was little difference between the number of mild and severe fears. The children reported more fears of potentially physically dangerous and harmful situations than of psychologically harmful situations. The counselors’ reports generally disagreed with the children's. Methodological implications of assessing fears in handicapped populations are presented, along with future research directions.