Vision Profile of Deaf Children∗

The vision status of 77 deaf children from Beverly School for the Deaf, Beverly, Massachusetts, was investigated in 6 general areas: visual acuity, refractive status, binocularity, color vision, pathology, and visual perceptual motor function. The significant results of this study that were different from the previously investigated work were in the areas of myopia and visual perceptual motor function. Myopia of only moderate to low degree was found in about 5.8% of the total population, which is significantly below the mean percentage found in a normal population. Almost 50% of the children showed deficiencies in any 1 or more of the 3 perceptual motor areas investigated, i.e., visual memory, spatial organization, and Gesell copy forms.