OBJECT PERMANENCE, REACHING, AND LOCOMOTION IN INFANTS WHO ARE BLIND

This article reviews research and other work that suggests that congen ital total blindness during infancy retards motor functions, most nota bly reaching for sound-making stimuli. Since there is a correlation be tween when infants who are blind begin to reach for rattles, bells, an d the like and when sighted infants search for hidden toys in Piagetia n experiments, it has been argued that for sound cues alone to elicit reaching, infants must first develop an object concept. Problems with this formulation are highlighted, and an alternative explanation is pr oposed that suggests possible interventions to redress the effects of congenital blindness on development.