Social Perception Of Children With Visual Impairments

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kids were picking on her. During her interview she also spoke about being reluctant to try different things, such as catching a ball, because if she were to fail she would be picked on. Other participants shared their experiences of being bullied and excluded during lunch and recess, and also being picked on because of their looks (Schipper, Liberman, & Moody, 2017). Social Perception of Children with Visual Impairments Understanding why children with visual impairments behave the way they do socially is another important factor in understanding how they can be helped. Hill and Blasch explain that “85% of social learning is accomplished through vision,” (as cited in Salleh & Zainal, 2010, p. 860) putting children with low vision at a serious …show more content…

Unfortunately, research has found that if the right social supports are not in place, negative side effects such as social isolation can result. As stated by Celeste and Grum (2010), “simply including children with visual impairments in a typical setting is not enough to ensure that they become full members of the classroom… professionals [and] educators must remain sensitive to the social challenges of children who are visually impaired, or their inclusion in typical environments can result in reduced social opportunities and isolation” (p. 20). This means that social skills must be a priority for children with visual impairments even if they are developing typically in all other areas. Working with professionals in the field, such as occupational therapists, who can develop intervention plans and identify strategies that offer long-term support to children with visual impairments is a good first step in developing social competence. Research done by Celeste and Grum (2010) also emphasize the need to educate parents, teachers, and peers on how to recognize behavioral cues and recognize any attempts by children with low vision to interact. Even though inclusion is the goal, exclusion is a real possibility in the everyday lives of children with visual impairments. In the study done by Schipper …show more content…

While it would be easy to assume that children with low vision hold a negative self-concept of themselves, this is not the case. The theory of competence motivation, developed by Harter, states “limited or failure experiences of individuals with visual impairments in social, physical, and athletic domains should have a negative impact on individuals’ domain-specific perceptions of competence, ratings of importance, and judgements of global, or overall, self-worth” (as cited in Shapiro, Moffett, Lieberman & Dummer, 2008, p. 232). As a result, social dissatisfaction, the unwillingness to try new things, and loneliness can occur. However, research has shown that in general, children with low vision have a positive self-concept which, according to one study, can be attributed to what they themselves deem important. Doing well in something will only have a positive impact on that person if that person places value and importance on success in that domain, otherwise, that person will not be affected by failure because of the perceived unimportance of the experience. The question then becomes why do children with low vision put a low value on athletic, social, and physical domains and if it is a good thing that they have this mindset. According to Stuart et al., one possibility as to why athletic competence is given a low rating is that

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