Is it fair, when conducting research, to compare children with vision impairment with their sighted peers all the time? This has happened a lot so far when measuring such things as motor skills, language competence or numeracy ability. “Those studies mainly emphasise the fact that these children may develop differently, not how they develop,” explains Carlijn Veldhorst. Her PhD research within the Department of Pedagogy and Education at Radboud University therefore focused exclusively on the development of children with vision impairment, without comparing them with sighted children. “Because it doesn’t always make sense to compare,” she says. “Unfortunately, we cannot take away their vision impairment. So, this study focused on their own development, to gain a better understanding of how they go through life.”
Veldhorst followed the lives of children with vision impairment intensively for two to three years, dividing them into different age groups: toddlers and teenagers. In contrast to research to date, she did not look just at the development of their skills and competencies. “Because there are more factors that determine whether children with vision impairment can participate in society,” she says. “There’s the role of parents and teachers, for example. But there’s also how children feel about themselves and whether they can express their own preferences. These are all factors that also contribute to participation.”
