Social Cognition in Visually Impaired and Sighted Children

Abstract

This study tested two alternative hypotheses by comparing spatial role taking, social role taking, and referential communication in congenitally visually impaired and sighted children, aged 7-9. The first hypothesis suggests that visually impaired children need not differ from sighted children in cognitive social functioning if they have had significant verbal interaction with others. The second hypothesis suggests that visually impaired children perform social cognitive tasks less adequately than do sighted children because their opportunities to participate in games are restricted. The findings of the study support the first hypothesis with one significant difference: visually impaired children said more than did sighted children in their initial descriptions of abstract forms.