Grasping Numerosity among Blind Children

摘要

The aim of the study is to describe and analyze some aspects of how congenitallyblind children aged seven and eight solve mathematical problems. Six blind children were interviewed and video-taped solving various types of manipulative tasks and word problems in the range of ten. The results show that none of the blind children spontaneously used their fingers when solving arithmetic word problems. When trying to grasp a number of elements by touch, the children used three different strategies; (1) counting, (2) counting and grouping, (3) structuring. The children solved the given word problems using three different strategies thereby experiencing numbers in various ways. The revealed strategies are estimating, counting and structuring. Our analyses seem to indicate that being able to structure the numbers in a part-whole relation and experience numbers as structurables is strongly linked to grasping numerosity among blind children.