Early words of blind children

The first 50 words of three blind children were collected and analysed using procedures used by Nelson (1973) on 18 sighted children. The early vocabulary of the blind children paralleled that of the sighted children in the age and speed of acquisition, and in the underlying characteristics of what the children chose to label. These reflect a sensorimotor organization in which self-action and perceptual change are the salient variables. The early words of the blind children differed from those of sighted children in the percentage of words in each of Nelson's grammatical categories. This suggests differences in how the children use language. These differences are discussed as a function of the children's lack of vision and their particular language learning context.

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