Inferential functioning in visually impaired children

Abstract: The current study explores the inferential abilities of visually impaired children in a task presented in two formats, manipulative and verbal. The results showed that in the group of visually impaired children, just as with children with normal sight, there was a wide range of inference types. It was found that the visually impaired children perform slightly better in the use of inductive and relational inferences in the verbal format, while in the manipulative format children with normal sight perform better. These results suggest that in inferential functioning of young children, and especially visually impaired children, the format of the task influences performance more than the child''s visual ability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]