Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

home about the conference programme registration accommodation contact

Children with visual impairments and acquisition of different concepts

Inácia Maria Nunes
Maria Amelia Almeida
Federal University of São Carlos
São Paulo - Brasil

Based on a socio-cultural approach, this study intends to treat some questions relative to the acquisition of knowledge in the formation of concepts in children who are totally blind. This approach was chosen principally for its understanding of the individual as an active being, capable of adapting and developing.   This way of perceiving the individual can be found in the opinions of authors such as Warren (1994), Batista (1999), Ochaita & Rosa (1995) and Amaral (1996), among others. These authors believe that the causes of some deficits in the development of the blind child are intimately linked to the interactions that the child establishes along his development and the environmental conditions in which these interactions are established.

Human development, seen from the socio-historical viewpoint, is the result of man’s interaction with his socio-cultural environment. Vygotsky (1991 a, b), a precursor of this approach, defended the view that the development of superior mental processes such as conceptual thought, logical memory, language and voluntary attention, among others, occurred through interaction.

Learning, in this approach, assumes an important role in propelling human development. Education’s role is to contribute to the formation of new structures and the improvement of old structures.

Vygotsky (1997) reviewed the literature on social perception in relation to visual disability and identified that blindness was first considered an immutable reality, and afterward, with the rise of the theory of compensation by the senses, was then considered as a   source of an internal force which caused the individual to overcome the difficulties and   make the conquest of a social life. The author notes the importance of   research in the areas which no longer adopt approaches centered the limits of disabilities and their limits, but focus instead on overcoming a disability with a perspective which understands disability as a phenomenon and analyses its relation with the past but is focused on the future . For Amaral (1996 b), a disability is a multifaceted phenomenon, impregnated with both denotation and conotation. The concept of disability passes through descriptive dimensions and as such, it has always tended to have had a concrete historical character.  Disability is understood as a global phenomenon, which involves the concept of Primary Disabilityrelated to intrinsic aspects, or that is, a loss or a structural or functional anomaly and the problems consequent to the activity of this organ, and the concept of Secondary Disability which involves the relative aspects, value laden and extrinsic, related to the loss in social condition as a result of the primary disability, this being a social construction.

The Coordination Board of Pedagogic Study and Norms (São Paulo, 1993) and, similarly Batista & Enumo (2000), consider visual disability as a term which designates the impediments of an organic origin,related to ocular pathology which may lead to poor visual functioning or the absence of vision.

However, It is important to note that the evaluation of the visual condition under an educational focus classifes visual disability in terms of the function of visual efficiency, that is the capacity to utilize remaining vison in the process of learning. As such, Faye & Barraga (apud Amiralian 1986 ) present the following definition:

• Blind persons are those individuals, who present from complete absence of vision to loss of light perception, who do not use vision for the acquisition of knowledge, even if the perception of light helps their sense of direction and mobility. In this sense, their learning process is done through the remaining senses (touch, hearing, smell, taste), utilizing the Braille system as the principal means of written communication, as well as other didatic resources and special equipment for their education.

Based on the authors cited, up to the present time, blindness is a primary disability because of a damaged eye and the incapacity for sight.   As the alterations in the development process of the blind child are due, principally, to psychosocial phenomena, related to the question of disability. Blindness is a disability that may or may not become a disadvantage.

The Development of a Blind Child from an Individual Differences Approach

The research was carried out from a Individual Differences approach which is currently an alternative to comparative research based on the comparison between populations. (visually disabled X sighted), and which evaluates the characteristics of children with visual disabilities according to the characteristics of sighted children.

This is in contrast to the Individual Differences Approach , which seeks to explain the differences within the same popoulation and as a first step carefully describes population characteristics as as a restricted description of averages which is incomplete and frequently induces errors, and wherein variation is considered a critical element for an adequate description. The second step in the Individual Differences Approach is to identify the correlations, and if possible the causality of the variation.

And it is exactly in the search for causality that the difficulties in individual differences approach research appear.   Many possible causal factors exist, such as general genetic factors, specific hereditary variations among individual members of the population and environmental factors which are variations in experience of a virtually infinate number.

However, it is exactly the complexity of causal variables which should have our attention in the attempt to understand the development of children with visual disabilities. The indagation should be towards the range of the variables which produces these differences within this population.

Warren (1994) suggests that research should be done under an Individual Differences approach and seek to identify the conditions which promote the development of the person with visual disabilities.

The socio-cultural approach of Vygotsky (1991 a, b, and 1997) and the Individual Differences approach described by Warren (1994) both consider the social context, the interactions which exist between the individual and their environment and the existing interactions between the processes of human development.

The Construction of Knowledge, Gestures and the Formation of Concepts

Any individual, visually disabled or not, is constantly influencing and being influenced by the environment.   This exchange contributes to the acquisition of knowledge aand motor, emotional and intellectual development (Le Boulch, 1987; Masini, 1994; Oliveira, 1997; Fonseca, 1987; Meyer, 1988).

According to Le Boulch (1987), the organism’s internal dynamism tends to maintain itself in equilibrium with its environment. On the social plane, this equilibrium is through encounter and exchange. This author considers human reality as a double reality because there is the world of senses through which we perceieve and the reality of the words we hear.   From this perspective, there is not only a mental representation of the world of objects which some call “mental image”, but also a mental representation of the word.

When a child percieves environmental stimuli through the senses, sensations and emotions, and when he acts on the world and its objects that comprise the environment through the movement of his body, the child is “experimenting”, enlarging and developing his intellectual functions (Oliveira 1997).

In this sense, Fonseca (1987) affirms that the meaning of the word evolves with progressive cortical and motor skill maturity.   It is through movement that the child integrates the significance of the first forms of language (symbolism).   As such, movement is the base which helps the child to acquire knowledge of the world that surrounds his body, through his perceptions and sensations.

The perception of the object or situation experienced is, according to Le Boulch (1987), the first type of perception for the child and it induces the use of the word. Later the perception of the word is exchanged for the mental representation of the object or situation.   At this moment, the verbal symbol becomes a true sound sign, through which the child exercises its symbolic function.

In this progressive and gradual manner, the child begins to form the world of words and concepts and understands what is said to him and makes himself understood (Oliveira, 1997). The elaboration of concepts constitutes an important conquest for human intelligence, because it makes it possible for man to relate to the world and learn about it in an ordered and meaningful way. Luria (1997) believes that the word, aside from its function in designating how items are represented and substituted for, also presents a categorical or conceptual meaning. In this case the word serves to abstract various specific aspects of the object, generalize these aspects and introduce them into a specific system of categories.

From the socio-historical psychology perspective of Vygotsky and his followers, the formation of concept is a result of a process, something that cannot be simply taught by training. As such, conceptual development does not occurr definitively, but gradually, because the significance of the word evolves gradually.   If, initially, a child forms concepts from a direct relation established with concrete reality, little by little he then isolates the attributes of the object, moving towards abstraction and generalization which become increasingly complex.   As such, the words which express concepts can be utilized in communication even before the concepts themselves have been formed.   In this way, the word helps in the process of the formation of the concept, even when it assumes a different meaning on its path towards its formation as a concept.

The formation of concepts go through various stages which involve successive mental operations that become gradually more complex until it reaches its most highly developed point in adolescence, when the individual is capable of formulating true concepts   This process is no different for the blind child, although authors such as Lowenfelt, Santin & Simmons, and Silva among others cited by Amiralian (1997) and Fleming (1986), Telford & Sawrey (1974) and Custforth (1969), affirm that the blind child presents delays in various aspects of his cognitive, emotional and motor skill development, as for example in the functions of classification, memory, attention, generalization and concept formation. However, Batista & Enumo (2000), think differently, in that while vision is but one of the principal organs for obtaining information for persons without disabilities, it does not mean that it is the only channel for the development by the blind child.

In this sense, Ochaita & Rosa (1995) in relation to the mental representation of knowledge, note that from the sighted perspective, one tends to consider the conception of the mental image as coinciding with the visual image, and that these images are not necessarily unique.   Therefore, the individual deprived of vision has a gamut of ways to perceive the world around him, utilizing   the sensorial modalities he possesses. The authors add further that “(...) the visually disabled can reach a level of intellectual development similar to that of the sighted. Nonwithstanding, the path to development does not coincide with the path the sighted follow.” (p.197)

Luria (1994) conceives of man as a being in transformation, with continual possibilites for development and affirms that “new experiences and new ideas change the manner with which people use language, and in the manner with which words become the principal agent of abstraction and generalization.” (p. 52).

Research on language in blind children and adolescents, developed by different authors such as, for example, Passos (1998), Leme (1998) and Batista, Bresciani, Kodama & Kodama (2000), present results that, in a general form, suggest that the absence of the visual representation of the references for the concepts they worked with, did not impede their formation by the congentially blind, and that meaning can be learned completely through language in interactions with others. The fact that a blind person does not know a concept is not due to the absence of vision but to the lack of experience in relation to the information presented.

These research studies also observed that the school is an important source of knowledge of the world, however, the inadequacy of the teaching methods for students with visual disabilities can damage the learning process. Other relevant sources of information are related to the interactions with schoolmates and family.

The school, for Lapierre & Aucouturier (1988), is not the only place for culture and education and what is important is to develop the willingness and critical spirit of the child so that their intellectual autonomy is not exercised solely with school subjects, but in their own life and in society.

In relation to the teaching of visually disabled persons, Masini (1997), analyzed the specialized bibliography on this population, showing that their development and learning had been defined from standards adopted for the sighted. In the instruments and proposals examined by the author, the “knowledge” expected in the education of the visually disabled person has the pressupposition of the sighted and therefore had not taken into consideration the differences in perception between the blind and the sighted.

As to the educational directives respecting the perceptual reference of the visually disabled, they create conditions for this student to organize and elaborate information from the world around them, developing meaningful learning instead of a mechanical form of learning in which the learner merely repeats without their own personal elaboration.   However, not everything the student will learn can be touched and known through his own exploration. In this situation, Masini (1997) affirms that frequent and varied explanations are necessary, so that the children’s representations are as exact as possible. The author calls attention to the importance of the explanations being formulated based on what the child has explored and knows (from his own representation), so that the child does not learn just words without a corresponding meaning.

Considering that blind children do not carry within them the prognostic of cognitive delays in respect to aspects of acquisition of knowledge and conceptualization- although some partial perceptions with respect to their development stigmatize them as disabled; and that education should be integral by means of both body and mind; that there is a need to avoid the process of mechanical memorization so present in our education; it is sought by means of this research study to evaluate the acquisiton of knowledge related to different types of concepts of totally blind children, living in different environments and receiving different stimuli from school and family, who underwent an intervention which was oriented and structured in the use of materials and extra help activities.

Method

This study adopted an Individual Differences Approach according to Warren (1994), because this approach does not require large samples and permits the participant to be studied in his interactions with the environment, prioritizing the analysis of the subject as his own reference for comparison.

This study had three participants and the intervention was carried out in individual sessions which varied in number from 5 to 11 sessions, depending on the needs of the participant. Pre-selected concepts were taught and analyzed in the sessions. The teaching was done through conversation, utilization of auxiliary materials and body activities. The evaluation was carried out through the evaluative questions established.

The criteria for selection of the particpants was: to have congenital total blindness or have acquired blindness before the age of 5 years; have no other disability associated with visual disability and the age difference between participants could be no more than two years.  

• An interview with the persons responsible for the participants was held to gather information relative to the life history of these participants. As such, they are succinctly described:
• Alan, blind due to congential glaucoma, began to attend pre-school at 4 years of age and was seen by an educational pychologist who also offered orientation to his school. In the first grade he began to attend a special class. At 7 years of age he began to participate in activities offered by an association for the visually disabled (activites were: swimming, keyboards, theater, computer classes and chorus).   Ten years by the time of the study, he was in the 4 th grade in a regular class and continued to see the school educational psychologist, attended a special class and continued to particpate in the activities offered at the Association for the Visually Disabled.
• Maria, with retinopathy of prematurity. From 3 to 6 years of Age, Maria attended Occupational Therapy. At 4 years of age, she began to attend a daycare center 3 times a week and at 7 years of age she began being seen by a psychologist. She began to participate in a special class and the activities of the Association for DV (swimming, theater, computer classes and chorus). By the time of the study she was 9 years of age,   attending the 2 nd grade in a regular class at a municipal elementary school which was operated in partnership with a private school and continued to attending the special class and the activities of the Association.
• Jaime, with retinopathy of prematurity . From 5 to 7 years of age he received psychological treament and then began one year of schooling at the Institute for the Blind where the majority of live-in students were adults with or without associated disabilities.   At 8 years of age, he began to attend a special class in a state school. By the time of the study, he was 10 years of age, and attended 2nd grade in a special class at a state elementary school.   He attended the Institue for the Blind daily and was seen by a speech and hearing therapist.

Criteria for the Selection of Concepts

The concepts were chosen according to criteria considered relevant such as: Concepts belonging to an area of Transversal Themes from Brazilian National Curriculum Standards (in this case, the Environment) which each child had the possibility of contact with, inside and outside of the classroom; concepts that would be part of school reality for 9 to 10 year old children, even when attending different schools and classes; among others.

The selected concepts were classified into four groups, evolving from tactile concepts of small and big, non-tactile concepts which could be perceived through other senses to abstract concepts. These were: hummingbird and macaw , urban and rural zones, lightning and thunder and ecological balance and imbalance.

The data were collected through: (a) interviews with the person responsible for the child, utilizing an interview script and (b) evaluative questions asked of the particpants using a , an evaluative question sheet and a performance register sheet, which had been previously structured and organized.

Intervention Procedures

Intially the concepts were analyzed in groups, considering the category or general class to which it belonged and from this general categorization, the common and specific characteristics were noted for each of the group concepts. The degree of complexity of the charateristics found in the analysis sought to range from simple and basic to more complex information.   The characteristics taught and evaluated were chosen according to the criteria established for the selection of the concepts and from the survey of the program content and were organized in detained conceptual flowcharts which distributed the concepts and their characteristics.

The first activity in the teaching intervention was the initial evaluation followed by teaching sessions and partial evaluations and finally a final evaluation session.. Although previously planned and strucutured, the process considered the particularities of each participant such as: time available,   length of attention and concentration time, etc. The dynamics of the intervention sessions were: evaluation of the concepts already taught; clarifying doubts; teaching of the next group of concepts.   The criteria utilized to determine if new concepts had been taught or not was 50% of correct answers during the the questioning and clarifying doubts step of the session.

Some important aspects of the teaching process were: the presence of play during learning, the utilization of the particpant’s previous knowledge, their experiences and life experience; the utilization of extra help materials for exploration and body activities and the inter-relation of all the concepts taught to construct a network of knowledge.

Data Analysis Procedure

The data collected during the intervention was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, and summarized in tables and charts. The quantitative analysis permited more objective descriptions and made a comparison of initial and final performance possible for each particpant. It also verified the acquisition of items considered relevant in the analysis of concepts taught and evaluated during the interventions.

The qualitative analysis sought to complete and refine the results obtained during the intervention and to avoid the error of submitting a complex reality of educational phenomena to a simplified analysis and in consquence, sacrificing real knowledge. This analysis verified whether the particpants had understood the information and not merely memorized it mechanically.   This analysis also permitted the capture of elements and subtle differences which existed in consequence of the developmental phase of the participant, their cultural reality, the stimuli which they received from their environment, etc.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results were analyzed by comparing the participant to himself.   Initially the correct and incorrects were analyzed by group.   Next, the general performance considering all the groups was analyzed.   Then, an analysis relating the three participants was done to identify possible causal variables among them without comparing performance.

The results showed that after the intervention, all the participants presented quantatative and qualitative improvements in the comprehension or the concepts worked on.   Considering the performance of the participants in relation to the correct and incorrect answers common to all three children, the increase of the common correct answers and the reduction of the common incorrect answers in relation to the initial and final evaluations in all of the concepts, was clear.

Analyzing the participants individually, Alan was observed to have achieved a mean of of 40% correct answers for all concepts in the initial evaluation and 87% correct answers in the final evaluation after the intervention.   The participant Maria initially obtained a mean of 24%, evolving to a final mean of 74% correct answers. And Jaime achieved a mean of 18% in the initial evaluation, progressing to 64% in the final evaluation.   It is important to note that this last participant needed more hours of intervention than the other participants. Jaime presented more difficulties in understanding and assimilating what was being taught and even with a greater number of hours of intervention, his performance was inferior in relation to the other children. However, considering the participant himself as his reference, as the Individual Differences approach suggests, one can note a considerable improvement in his performance.

In the initial evaluation, the common correct answers were principally related to the knowledge which was not exclusively acquired in the school environment, and the general   characteristics of the concepts.   The common errors were evident due to the characteristics of the concept itself in question, the characteristics which demanded a global comprehension of a specific physical space and those concepts which are based in more complex scientific knowledge.

It can also be observed that for Alan, the knowledge of concepts, was in a general way, acquired through school, family, social interactions, television and associations. For Maria, this knowledge was acquired through school.   Jaime, in the majority of his answers, said it was his mother who had taught him.

The importance of the school can also be noted, as Panofsky, Steiner & Blackwell (1996) observed, in spontaneous concentration and logical memory. While Jaime was not able to concentrate on an activity for more than 30 to 60 minutes at a time, Alan and Maria were able to spend a longer time without their attention wandering.   The mean duration of the intervention sessions for Maria varied from 1 to 1.5 hours, and from 1.5 to 2 hours for Alan.

Analyzing the results achieved in the evaluations and the life histories of each participant, one can observe that Jaime is an example of what Amaral (1996 a, b) denominates as secondary disability, because he began to receive the necessary developmental accompaniment at a later stage. The results of the present study reflect the histories of each one of the participants. Jaime presented more difficulties in understanding and assimilating the concepts evaluated, and needed a greater number of intervention sessions. Alan presented the best performance, followed by Maria.

In relation to the acquisition of knowledge and communication through the body, the results made it possible to state that the participants expressed themselves differently in each intervention situation. During teaching and exploration, in situations which did not have directed body activities, they created and tryed out situations.

The materials and extra help activities offered contributed to allow participants to explore in different ways, intellectually and bodily live the knowledge that was being passed on to them, and in this sense, these resources also contributed to the children being able to express their knowledge and experience.

From the analysis it can be affirmed that: a) the participants were found to be at different stages in the process of   the formation of concepts, as a result of the influences and stimuli they received from their environment; b) all of the children, assimilated new knowledge, contributing to the formation of the proposed concepts; d) the material and extra activities proprosed facilitated the acquisition of this knowledge, and made it possible for the participants to express themselves in accordance with their development and; e) the interest and the manner in which they explored the resources and activities presented was particular to each one of the participants.

CONCLUSION

This study permits the conclusion, based on the results and the discussion presented, that developmental delays observed in some of the participants are not the direct consequence of the absence of visual function or the damaged sightless eye but of the implicit disadvantages of this dysfunction, that is the damaged eye incapable of sight is not responsible for the delays some particpants presented, but the secondary disability is, due to the disadvantages linked to social context.

It can be concluded that the oriented intervention contributed to the acquisition of knowledge on the part of the participants, and in this way contributed to the formation of concepts.

Another aspect which can be concluded is the relation of the influence of the school in the performance of the children in relation to the process of the formation of concepts. Alan, who received the greatest influence by formal schooling presented the largest repetiore of scientific concepts. Jaime who had only recently ingressed in this system, presented a predominance of day-to-day concepts, with a predominance of concrete, perceptual and functional characteristics.

In relation to the intervention, it can be affirmed that the child constructs knowledge from their body and their reality, not merely extrapolating what has been mechanically memorized, but fostering a positive feeling of self-confidence which allows the student to take risks without fear.   Throughout the intervention sessions, the fear of making a mistake and being rejected or punished diminished.   Both Maria and Jaime became more spontaneous and creative.

As to the utilization of the Individual Differences Approach, one can conclude that in this study it was appropriate because it made it possible to work with a small sample which was able to take into account the paticipants’ interaction with their environment. This approach considered the indivdual particpants’ interaction with their environment and as the reference for their own development.   This focus, in accordance with the socio-historico approach of Vygotsky (1991, a and b; 1997), permits one to regard the participants as unique beings and, in this sense,   to open and strengthen the path searching for an understanding of the reasons and possible solutions for their delays.

It can be considered that the directed intervention, which used extra help materials, body activities and verbal interactions to assist the child in advancing their development through the knowledge they brings with them, contributed not only to the development of the participants with congenital blindness, but also contributed to the development of any child, because this intervention encountered nothing exceptional nor exclusive to blind children.

Therefore, this type of intervention helps all children construct their concepts and additionally, offers sighted children the opportunity to learn from new forms of perception. These new experiences, aside from enriching their repetoire, created opportunities for sighted children and children with visual disabilities to become closer in their social relations, and share an experience which permitted them to discover or perhaps enlarge their communication repetoire.

The children with visual disabilities, like all healthy children, need and like to interact with their peers. The social interactions, according to Vygotsky (1991 a) are the basis for development, and in this study, Alan and Maria lived through social interaction experiences that were much richer than those that Jaime did, and consequently, they presented a superior performance.

In relation to the visual deficiency itself, it might be interesting for teachers to receive orientation through continuing education and other means on the particularities of visual deficiency.   These orientations had the objective of facilitating some social living situations between disabled students and their classmates, encompassing the physical aspects of the classroom, the facilitation and creation of situations which stimulate interaction. Another aspect was demystification of the belief, still held by many today, that the disabled, whether visually, hearing or physically disabled, necessarily have intellectual delays.

REFERENCES

Amaral, L.A (1996 a). Deficiência: questões conceituais e alguns de seus desdobramentos. In: Caderno de Psicologia, 1, 3-12.

Amaral, L.A (1996 b) Algumas reflexões sobre a (r)evolução do conceito de deficiência. In: C. Goyos, M A.Almeida e D. Souza (Orgs): Temas em Educação Especial, (pp.99-106). São Carlos: Editora da UFSCar.

Amiralian, M. L. T. M. (1997). Compreensão do Cego: uma visão psicanalítica da cegueira por meio de desenhos-estórias. São Paulo: Casa dos Psicólogos.

Amiralian, M. L. T. M. (1986 ). Psicologia do Excepcional. In C. R. Rappaport (Org): Temas Básicos de Psicologia, (pp.21-28). São Paulo, Ed. EPU.

Batista, C.G. (1999). Observação dos Comportamentos Sociais de Crianças com Deficiência Visual. In F.P.Nunes e A C. Cunha (Orgs): Dos problemas disciplinares aos distúrbios de conduta: Pratica e reflexões, (pp. 113-131), Rio de Janeiro:

Batista, C.G. & Enumo S. R. F. (2000) Desenvolvimento humano e impedimentos de origem orgânica: o caso da deficiência visual. In: H. A Novo, & M. C. Menandro (Orgs): Olhares diversos: Estudando desenvolvimento humano, (pp. 157-174). Victoria (E.S): Editora Arte Visual.

Batista, C. G., Bresciani A. C., Kodama, V e Kodama M. C. (2000). Avaliação de conceitos em crianças com deficiência visual ou múltipla: Três casos ilustrativos. In: Pôster: XXX Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia, Brasília DF.

Cutsforth, T.D. (1969). O Cego na Escola e na Sociedade. São Paulo: MEC (Tradução e edição da Campanha Nacional de Educação dos Cegos).

Fleming, J. (1986). Criança com Deficiências Visuais. In: Juanita Fleming (Org.) A criança Excepcional - Diagnóstico e Tratamento (pp. 103-113). Rio de Janeiro: Ed Francisco Alves (2 a edição)

Fonseca, V. (1987). Perturbações do desenvolvimento e da aprendizagem: tendências filogenéticas e ontogenéticas. Lisboa: Ed. Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH). Universidade técnica de Lisboa.

Lapierre, A. & Aucouturier, B. (1988 ). A simbologia do movimento: psicomotricidade e educação . Porto Alegre: Ed. Artes médicas.

Le Boulch, J. (1987). Rumo a uma ciência do movimento humano. Porto Alegre: Ed. Artes Médicas.

Leme, M.E.S. (1998) Investigação de conceito em cegos congênitos. Monografia de Especialização. Cepre - UNICAMP, São Paulo.

Luria, A R . (1997). O desenvolvimentonosconceitoseosmétodosparaasuaavaliação. In: A. R. Luria (Org.) Pensamento elinguagem: as últimasconferênciasde Luria (pp.57:75).Porto Alegre: EditoraFotoletras.

Masini, E. F. S. (1994) O perceber e relacionar-se do deficiente visual. Brasília: Coordenadoria Nacional para integração da Pessoa Portadora de Deficiência - CORDE.

Masini, E. F. S. (1997). Intervenção educacional junto à pessoa deficiente visual (D.V.) In: (Org...): Deficiência: alternativa de intervenção (pp.73-91).São Paulo: Ed Casa do Psicólogo.

Meyer, M. C. (1988) Psicomotricidade, memória corporal e educação. In G. Hermant (Org) O Corpo e sua memória (pp.89 - 112), São Paulo: Ed Manole LTDA.

Ochaita, E. & Rosa, A (1995). Percepção, Ação e Conhecimento em Crianças Cegas. In: Coll, Palacios, Marchesi (Orgs.) Desenvolvimento Psicológico e Educação: necessidades educativas especiais e aprendizagem escolar ( pp. 185 -199). Porto Alegre: Editora Artes Médicas.

Oliveira, G. C. (1997) Psicomotricidade: educação e reeducação num enfoque psicopedagógico. Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes.

Panofsky, C.P, Steiner V. J. e Blackwell, P.J. (1996) O desenvolvimento do discurso dos conceitos científicos. Em Luis C. Moll (Org.) Vygotsky e a educação: implicações pedagógicas da pscologia sócio-história (pp. 245-262). Porto Alegre: Editora Artes Médicas.

Passos, P.M.P. (1998) A compreensão de metáforas peã criança cega congênita. Monografia de Especialização. Cepre - UNICAMP, São Paulo.

São Paulo (1993). O Deficiente Visual na Classe Comum: Educação Especial. Secretaria de Estado da Educação – Coordenadoria de Estudos e Normas pedagógica. Prática Pedgógica.

Telford, C. W. & Sawrey J.M. (1974).Os deficientes visuais. In: C. W. Telford e J.M. Sawrey (Orgs): O indivíduo execpcional (pp.363-394). Tradução Álvares Cabral, Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores.

Vigostsky, L. S. (1997). Fundamentos de Defectología. - Obras Completas tomo cinco. (Tradução em espanhol da edição russa de 1983, a partir de originais escritos até 1934). Cuba: Editorial Pueblo y Educación.

Vigostsky, L. S. (1991 a). Pensamento e Linguagem. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.

Vigostsky, L. S. (1991 b). Formação Social da Mente. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.

Warren, D.H. (1994) Blindness and Children: an individual differences approach. Cambridge EUA: Cambridge University Press.

home . about the conference . programme . registration . accommodation . contact