Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

This study looks at the benefits and functions of bilingualism in Indian schoolchildren with low vision impairment. Bilingualism, particularly in a multilingual country like India, can have considerable cognitive, social, and educational benefits. The study focuses on a sample group of N=60 (monolingual and bilingual) school-aged children with varying degrees of low vision impairment and analyses how bilingual (L1-Telugu and L2-English and L1-Hindi and L2-English) education effects their learning and social integration. Using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), the study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess cognitive development, language competency, and social interaction abilities in a bilingual situation. The findings indicate that bilingualism improves not only verbal abilities, but also cognitive flexibility, problem-solving ability, and social empathy in early children. This study suggests that bilingual education should be an integral part of the curriculum for visually impaired pupils in India, encouraging their overall development and integration into society. The findings have significant implications for educational policies and practices affecting special-needs children in diverse environments.