Definition
The relationship of blindness and autism is complex, and, as group of prominent researchers have aptly noted, it has been a continuing source of interest and perplexity for researchers and clinicians (Hobson et al. 1999). Central to examinations of the relationship is a collection of behaviors regarded as characteristic of children who are blind, in particular children who are congenitally blind, and children who have profound visual impairment. The collection includes stereotyped and ritualistic behaviors, pronounced limitations of social and communicative competence, delayed and limited symbolic play and language, delayed use and reversals of personal pronouns, echolalia and speech limitations, and difficulties with abstract thinking (Gense and Gense 2005; Perez-Pereira and Conti-Ramsden 1999).
Many of these behaviors also are considered to be characteristic of sighted children who have autism spectrum disorder. Because of the seeming commonality of certain behaviors of...
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Welch, T.R. (2018). Blindness. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_18-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_18-3
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