10 Cognitive and Concept Development

Introduction

Evaluation of verbal intellectual functioning typically involves the measurement of acquired facts and knowledge (crystallized intelligence). Tests of verbal reasoning and general knowledge assume that blind and low vision students have had access to the same learning opportunities as their sighted peers, which is not always the case. The assessing psychologist must be aware of these potential differences in opportunities and exposures.

Concept development

A concept is something that is abstract. To properly understand a concept requires a rich and extensive experience.

Vision is a major source by which we receive information about our world. With respect to concept development, vision plays an organizing role by providing a framework within which the child associates multisensory input (touch, hearing, smell) with a unified concept (Hollins, 2022). With reduced or no opportunity to engage the visual channel as an integrative modality, blind and low vision children require more purposeful intervention and support to acquire and elaborate meaningful concepts. Blind and low vision children acquire new information through the process of direct instruction as well as structured hands-on experiences (Loftin, 2022b). This explicit learning process may take time and contribute to concepts being acquired slowly. Without opportunities for direct experiences, the child may have an incomplete understanding of the concept, such as overly focusing on certain details.

Details vs. general concepts

Children who are either born with no vision or experience vision loss at a younger age are likely to have the most difficulty with concept development. Without strong and early intervention programs, they are likely to develop splintered concepts. They may focus on isolated aspects to develop broader concepts. It is often difficult for them to master broad concepts instead of a series of fragmented details. For example, they may see an island as a place with palm trees and surfboards but miss that it is land surrounded by water. It is particularly difficult to remediate these gaps in knowledge. Unless multiple opportunities are provided for experiential learning, blind and low vision children tend to develop a fragmented series of concepts that make abstract reasoning difficult.

Memorization vs. understanding

The other area that impacts the measurement of cognitive development is the tendency for blind and low vision children to use “verbalisms” or words that they use without an adequate base of knowledge. While educators and families of blind children often note this tendency, some research indicates verbalisms are used by sighted and blind children and may be viewed as an adaptive linguistic strategy for the blind child in a visually dominant social environment (Kastrup & Valente, 2018; Rosel et al., 2005). Whether verbalisms are viewed as a difference or social adaptation, this tendency may impact the development of abstract concepts if opportunities for direct experience are not provided. When listening to a young, verbose child, knowledge may be assumed where little exists.

As with vocabularies, blind and low vision students often present with memorized facts but little understanding of a concept. Difficulties are apparent when asked to generalize these concepts to new situations that require manipulation of information. For example, a student may be able to recite the capitals of all of the states or provinces; however, the same student cannot tell you the characteristics of the capitals, why states or provinces do not share capitals, or other information about capitals. Frequent checks for understanding will often reveal the difference between mastery and memorization.

Summary of possible difficulties with cognitive development in blind and low vision students

While not all blind and low vision children experience the following, examiners must be aware of these potential challenges (Loftin, 2022a).

• Tendency to have a fragmented understanding of concepts.
• Challenges in applying knowledge to new situations, or conversely, troubles due to overgeneralization.
• Difficulty in understanding concepts without direct experiences.
• Reliance on rote memory.
• Struggles in focusing on multiple aspects of a concept.
• Frequently appear as more cognitively able simply because of large vocabularies without corresponding meaning.

For more information on concept development in blind and low vision students, you may want to read the document Concept development with children with a (severe) visual impairment (de Kleijn & van den Bos, 2018).

References

de Kleijn, I. U., & van den Bos, F. (2018). Concept development with children with a (severe) visual impairment. Visio. https://www.visio.org/visio.org/media/Visio/Downloads/KEI/Leaflet_Concept_Development_ENGLISH.pdf

Hollins, M. (2022). Understanding blindness: An integrative approach. Routledge.

Kastrup, V., & Valente, D. (2018). How to make the body speak? Visual disability, verbalism and embodied Speech. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 38(3), 572–583. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-3703000052018

Loftin, M. (2022a, January 20). Best practices for cognitive evaluation of students with VI [Slides]. APH. https://www.aph.org/app/uploads/2022/01/Best-Practices-for-Cognitive-Evaluation-of-Students-with-VI.pdf

Loftin, M. (2022b). Making evaluation meaningful: Determining additional eligibilities and appropriate instructional strategies and visual impairment (2nd ed.). Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. https://www.tsbvi.edu/product/making-evaluations-meaningful

Rosel, J., Caballer, A., Jara, P., & Oliver, J. C. (2005). Verbalism in the narrative language of children who are blind and sighted. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 99(7), 413-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X0509900704