Important considerations for parents of children with Visual Impairments (VI)
Much of the information was taken from the book, “Getting Ready for College Begins in Third Grade”, by Carol Castellano.
- Become aware of blind VI people’s achievements
- Raise your expectations
- Learn the techniques that blind/VI people use to accomplish tasks
Academics
- All adults must understand that the goals for the VI student are to participate fully and independently in class
- Become a full participant in all classroom activities
- Teachers must take the same responsibility for the education of the VI students as for the education of the sighted students in the room
- All materials and presentation must be in an accessible form and ready when they are needed
- VI student must receive instruction in areas such as braille, mobility, technology, etc.
- The VI student must have a reading medium
- School personnel must respect the cane and encourage the student’s independent mobility
- Good communication among all members of the IEP team
- The IEP should have an explicit goal of independence so that the student can become independent in the classroom and in all areas
- The team must build in a timeline for independence (over time the student must become more independent and need less assistance)
Independent Living Skills
- Develop time awareness and time management
- Teach the following: wash hands, brush teeth, wash hair, bathe/shower, dress and undress, table manners
- Observe what sighted children (your child’s age) are able to do in the kitchen and teach your child at least the basic skills
- Household chores
- Going to the store
Orientation and Mobility
- Develop body awareness
- Develop awareness of spatial concepts/positional concepts/environmental concepts
- Sound and Echolocation
- Experience with maps
- Developing a store of knowledge (going places!!!)
- Give child ample time for exploration and problem solving
- Promote age-appropriate independence and autonomy
Social Awareness and Social Skills
- Broaden your child’s experience
- Teach child to play (share, pretend)
- Develop personality (flexibility, judgment)
- Don’t talk for your child
- Let your child grow up
- Teach conversation and social interaction skills (face the speaker, give and take – turn taking, keep conversation going, social signals to read, personal space, be interesting and interested)
- Appearance
- Manners and eating skills
Developing Self-Advocacy Skills
- Don’t think accommodations…think skills (don’t think in terms of having things done for the child or making things easier for them; instead think about the child knowing how to do things!)
- Acquiring the skills to get the job done and effectively communicating how they will accomplish the tasks
- Developing competence through life experiences
- Developing confidence
