Information for Parents
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Information for Parents
Children who are blind or visually impaired need to enjoy the same experiences that all children enjoy. Blind children should not be coddled. All children fall. All children hurt themselves, and many children break bones during their childhood.
Blind children walk independently, take care of themselves independently and should be expected to do household chores.
The following common sense ideas are included to get you started if there are no services readily available to you now.
- Direct indoor lighting or sunlight coming in through the windows may affect any child's ability to use his vision effectively. Always try to place your child in a position where the light is coming from behind him (over his shoulder), but not casting his shadow on his toys.
- It is much easier to see things that do not have a glare effect. Glare is produced when the light is reflected off of an object. If you have the choice of a bright laminated top or a wood surface, to play on, choose the wood, it will not cause glare.
- When you go to buy things for your child to play with or to decorate her room try to choose objects that are red, blue, green, yellow or black and white. All youngs children are attracted to primary colors. Many children see bright red or bright yellow objects most easily. Watch your child to see if there is a color that she responds to more readily, but often red is the color ROP children respond to first.
- Try to limit the number of toys your child is playing with. Too many toys just cause clutter and make it difficult to focus on a task.
- Remember that it is easier to see objects if there is an obvious difference between the object and the background on which the object is presented. Try to always provide the most contrast you can as you play. You may have to change the color of the surface you are working on by placing either a light cloth or a dark cloth over it.
- The more familiar your child is with a toy, the better he will be able to start looking at smaller parts of that toy. Don't expect him to identify parts before he is really familiar with the whole.
