Phenomena of early communicative development in blind children in foreign empirical research

<p style="text-align: justify;">The regularities of mental development of children with severe visual impairments remain one of the least explored areas in early intervention. The design of psycho-pedagogical interventions aimed at preventing learning and behavioral difficulties of this population requires a clear understanding of the logic of early ontogenesis in blindness, its milestones and mechanisms underlying developmental deviations. This review analyses empirical findings on dynamics of communicative development in blind infants and toddlers, and compares the normative timelines for the emergence of key communicative phenomena in blindness reported by different authors. The results show that aligning these findings with the Russian model of communicative ontogenesis created by M.I. Lisina and her followers, comprising the orienting component of communication, situational-personal communication, and situational-practical communication, provides a coherent framework for integrating data across theoretical perspectives and identifying normative milestones that mark transitions between developmental stages. This comparison indicates considerable individual variability in development under conditions of blindness, which should be scientifically explained.</p> <div class="XTranslate" style="all: unset;"></div>