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Congenital and Perinatal Sensory Deprivation: Some Studies in Early Development

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.127.11.1539

Very early deficiency of coenesthetic (i.e., nonspecific) sensory experience results in gross, apparently irreversible, personality disturbances. The author presents evidence indicating that the high incidence of autistic disturbances in the congenitally blind is also due to coenesthetic deprivation. The congenitally deaf child, who tends to be very active and responsive during the early months of postpartal life, does not show the kinds of characterologic deviations regularly observed in the environmentally deprived and very frequently observed in the congenitally blind.

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