This article describes a visual assessment procedure (VAP) which evaluates capacity, attention, and processing (CAP) of infants and preschool children with visual impairments. The two-level battery considers, first, visual capacity and basic visual attention and, second, visual perceptual and cognitive abilities. A theoretical analysis of the…

This article discusses the development of an orientation and mobility screening measure suitable for use with children having severe visual impairments (and possibly additional impairments) from birth through five years of age. Twenty instructors rated the measures as being useful. The two forms of the measure (for either ambulatory or…

Four stages in the development of tactual perception are described (awareness of tactual quality, shape conception and recognition, graphic representation, and symbology systems). Educational applications for blind infants and children are given for each stage. (CL)

The transdisciplinary approach to intervention with handicapped infants is described. The joint team, staff development, and role release characterize the approach. Sections consider effective team functioning and remedies for team dysfunctions including problems in interpersonal relations, developmental process, team structure, and role release.…

Research on object exploration by infants addresses milestones in the process by normally developing infants, including spontaneous manipulation strategies. Implications for developmentalists working with high-risk preterm infants are noted, including the need for direct assistance in manipulation and for selection of materials. (CL)

This article defines tactile defensiveness as a sensory processing problem that results in aversive responses to touch. The article outlines causes, presents sample behaviors to assist in recognizing the possible presence of this dysfunction in infants and toddlers, and offers suggestions to assist in coping with and seeking appropriate treatment…

Cortical blindness is defined and its diagnosis is explained. Guidelines and sample activities are presented for use in a cognitive/visual/multi-sensory stimulation program to produce progress in cortically blind infants. The importance of using the eyes from birth through early development in order to form the nerve pathways responsible for…

The report analyzes roles of mental health professionals in implementing Public Law 99-457, the Education of the Handicapped Amendments of 1986, which established the Child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP). A December, 1987, conference of administrators, clinicians, policymakers, and parent representatives from federal, state, and…

This program focuses on therapeutic principles and methods for prelinguistic and early language learning, with the goals of increased cognitive functions and sensory awareness/interaction, expanded communicative repertoires, and increased caregiver interaction with the child through appropriate stimuli and assignment of communicative intent. The…

This paper presents the individual's life span trajectory as a unique construction within a unique context for that individual's interactional and adaptive self-regulatory strategies. Issues of adaptive coordination between caregiver and infant are discussed, and five propositions concerning individual development summarize the work. (Author/JDD)

This article describes assessment and management strategies for infants and toddlers with normal hearing or fluctuating conductive hearing loss, who are identified as having central auditory impairment and/or judged to have abnormal auditory behavior. Management strategies include audiologic, medical, and speech and language management. Three case…

Alberta Education's position on the physical growth of students is presented in this paper, which focuses on children's physical growth in the areas of perceptual, structural, and motor development. Each area is first discussed in terms of three age groups: the child from infancy to preschool, the elementary child, and the adolescent. Concluding…

This document comprises two leaders' guides and two participants' guides to two inservice presentations on the speech/language professional's role in working with at-risk infants and toddlers. Videotapes are intended to accompany the materials. The needs assessment, field testing, content/design analyses, and validation studies conducted in the…

Intended to assist teachers as they assess, plan for, and teach deaf blind students, this manual describes a process for adapting curricula for students who function within the 0-24 month developmental period, also known as the sensorimotor period. The manual's first section provides an overview of project activities including the literature…

This symposium focused on the special needs of visually handicapped infants and young children. Texts of 48 papers are presented, including keynote addresses by W. Aubrey Webson ("The First Steps") and Heather Hewitt ("First Steps--Parenting, Prevention and Programming"). Regional reports are provided for Japan, Bangladesh, the…