Longitudinal study of gross‐motor development in blind infants and preschoolers¹

Abstract

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of gross‐motor development in 10 congenitally blind children during the first 3 years of life. Compared to developmental norms for sighted children, five full‐term blind children showed only slight delays in postural development, but greater delays in locomotor development. Five preterm blind children (birth weight: 650‐1,115 grams) showed major delays in all areas of gross‐motor development that increased with age. Both groups deviated from the developmental sequence of sighted children in the acquisition of those skills required for self‐initiated changes in posture and position (sitting or standing) and in crawling. Blindness‐specific and blindness‐nonspecific causal factors are discussed.