Attentional processes in young children with congenital visual impairment

Abstract

The study investigated mentalistic and descriptive discourse between school-aged children with visual impairment (VI) from birth, age 6-12 years, and their sighted mothers during joint book narrative (n=12), and in comparison to a group of sighted children of comparable age and verbal ability, and their mothers (n=14). The mothers of children with VI referred to the story characters' mental states and used descriptive elaborations to a greater extent than did the mothers of sighted children. The more mentalistic language the mothers of children with VI produced, the more mentalistic language was spoken by their children, although this was not independent of mothers' verbosity. The frequency of maternal elaborations, including their mentalistic language, was related the VI child's verbal cognition and socio-communicative competence. The findings offer an insight into nature and value of verbal scaffolding provided by mothers to their children with VI, shedding light on a potential candidate for future interventions.

A Systematic Review of the Literature on Parenting of Young Children with Visual Impairments and the Adaptions for Video-Feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting (VIPP)

“…Focus on structured social routine based in nursery rhymes and communicative behavior.Intersubjectivity 2,3 Joint attention 3 Play behavior 3 Ross and Tobin (1997) UKBlindReviewInfluence of congenital blindness on motor functions and reaching for sound making stimuliExploration 2 Rowland (1984) USA N  = 5 (dyads)Age: 11–32 m.Blind, 4 with additional impairmentsLongitudinal observational descriptive designVideo analysis mother child interactionsInteraction 1,2 Intersubjectivity 2,3 Joint attention 2 Salvo et al (2001) Italy N  = 14Age = 12–48 m. (calendar age) N  = 13Age 12–48 m. (developmental age)Blind, visually impaired, with additional impairmentsObservational comparative descriptive explorative designReynell Zinkin, Adapted strange situation and adapted attachment questionnaire for adults. Focus on development of attachment.Interaction 3 Intersubjectivity 1 Schellingerhout et al (1997) The Netherlands N  = 8Age: 8–24 m.Blind, no additional impairmentsExperimental descriptive designExploratory procedures used to explore a gradient surface textureExploration of gradient texture was examined over 11 weeks’ time.Exploration 1,3 Skellenger et al (1997) USA N  = 24Age: 2.9 to 5.8 y.Blind, visually impaired, no additional impairmentsObservational descriptive designPlay behavior formPlay setting assessment formVideo analysis, focus on children’s play behavior patterns and interactionsInteraction 1 Exploration 3 Play behavior 1 Specific behavior 1,2 Smitsman and Schellingerhout (2000) The Netherlands N  = 3Age: 4 y.BlindExperimental designSearching tasks compared using different textures: homogeneous and specially made gradient texturesExploration 3 Sousa et al (2005) BrazilBl: N  = 4 (dyads)Si: N  = 4 (dyads)Age: 2–6 y.Blind, no additional impairments, sightedObservational comparative descriptive designObservation during free play, focus on occurrence of autistic features in children with congenital blindnessInteraction 2 Joint attention 2 Play behavior 3 Specific behavior 1 Tadic et al (2009) UKBl: N  = 16VI: N  = 16Si: N  = 17Age:Bl: 15–53 m.VI: 17–36 m.Si: 10–36 m.Blind, visually impaired, sightedObservational correlational comparative designVideo analysis of semi structured play situation Reynell Zinkin scale Focus on establishing, maintaining and shifting attention on toysJoint attention 1 Tröster et al A (1991) Germany…”

A novel ecological account of prefrontal cortex functional development.

“…Small differences in the experienced environments of typically compared to atypically developing infants and children could create cascading effects that impact PFC development and adaptation of the brain to the environment more generally (Karmiloff-Smith, 2009). This can take the form of altered PFC function from subtle differences in early visual or auditory processing (Baruth, Casanova, Sears, & Sokhadze, 2010), in congenital blindness or deafness (Figueras et al, 2008; Tadic et al, 2009), or from disrupted thalamic organization, such as in individuals with schizophrenia (Cheng et al, 2015). …”

Management of children and young people with vision impairment: diagnosis, developmental challenges and outcomes

“…Vulnerabilities in motor, cognitive, language, social and attentional domains are well documented,11 15 16 as is the risk of developmental setback (plateauing and regression of cognitive and social development) in the toddler years 17…”