Orientation and Mobility for the Blind Multiply Handicapped Young Child

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a programmed instructional program in orientation and mobility for blind multiply handicapped infants and toddlers below the developmental age of 3 years. Scales were developed for each of four major areas: motor development, cognitive development, movement and touch, and sound localization. Programmed instruction training materials were developed for each of these scales. The scales and programmed instruction were then field-tested with 22 multiply handicapped blind infants and toddlers functioning between 0 and 3 years of age. The children who received intervention from trainers using the programmed instructional materials demonstrated significant performance gains over the control subjects in the areas of cognitive development and movement and touch.