Role of vision on early motor development: lessons from the blind

For a better understanding of the contribution vision makes to the developm ent of other sensory systems and to movement and posture, we studied effect s of early blindness by examining video recordings of 14 totally blind infa nts. Infants were born at term or preterm and showed no evidence of brain d amage. During preterm and term periods no noticeable changes in motor activ ity were observed. Around 2 months postterm all infants showed clear delay in head control and abnormal, exaggerated type of 'fidgety movements'. Late r, postural control was characterized by a prolonged period of ataxic featu res. Results indicate a lack of normal calibration exerted by vision on pro prioceptive and vestibular systems. Early visuomotor coordination such as c oordinated eye-head scanning and head orientating were present but disappea red after several weeks.