Visual Impairment

How a visual impairment (VI) can affect communication

The development of language may be delayed for children with a significant visual impairment as they may not be able to associate words with specific objects and also pictorial representation of everyday items.

Children with severe visual impairment can experience difficulties/delay in the following aspects of the development of their speech and language:

• Child directed speech (knowing when it is your turn during turn-taking: lack of confidence)
• Intonation (not be able to see facial, hand expressions associated with intonation)
• Situational understanding (inappropriate understanding of what is required in different situations e.g. sitting still, not seeing others)
• Speech sounds
• Attending and selective listening
• Single-channelled (attending to one thing at a time) Anticipation (inappropriate prediction of expressive language)
• Symbolic vocalisation (woof, woof; sound of train)
• Joint attention and shared discovery (keeping things close by impacts on shared language and reduces interaction)
• Gestures, facial expressions
• Rhythm recognition (not seeing, remembering latter language patterns)
• Symbolism (2D to 3D recognition)
• Over generalisation
•  Visual memory.

© Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire PCT 2011.

This page was last reviewed 17 April 2013 at 10:40.
The page is next due for review 14 October 2014.