However, if the things you touch or that touch you feel funny, or hurt, you may become resistant to using touch to examine things in your environment. Touch alone may not be helpful in identifying an object if you can't touch the whole object at one time. If you aren't touching the ears or the teeth or the tail you might not know. Developing the tactual sense will help the child in ways that range from finding a toy he dropped on the floor to feeling the difference between the curb and the street with his cane. Normally I don't pay much attention to smells unless they are extremely pleasant or offensive, but I might use that kind of information to help me know exactly where I am in certain environments.
Smells can also serve as landmarks and clues for environmental awareness.
For example, the smells that can be found in my kitchen differ greatly from the smells in my bedroom. I can also smell food being cooked near mealtime in my kitchen, but after a meal I am more likely to smell the soap used in the dishwasher. If I am looking for a clue to my location, I need to know that both of those smells might mean I'm in the kitchen. The gym at school, unlike my kitchen at home, might always smell about the same. If I have no sight, this smell, especially combined with other clues and landmarks, might help me know that I am in the gym.