Use of the Binaural Sensory Aid by Young Children
Four blind children aged 10-30 months received training in the use of the Binaural Sensory Aid, adapted for use by children. The youngest child learned to respond to the presence of objects at 13 months. The next oldest child (21 months) learned to respond in one training session and subsequently was able to interpret distance and object-category information provided by the aid. The two older children (24 and 30 months) showed substantially less ability to respond to information provided by the aid primarily because their attention span was limited and because of competing behaviors that were incompatible with the use of the aid. Contradictions in the literature indicate the need for more reliable research methods than have been used so far. The intensive study of single cases and the use of animal research are recommended.