Chapter 1: How can I help my child?

How vision problems affect development

When a child can see, she usually develops skills 'naturally' as she
watches and plays with the people and objects she sees around her. Playing gives a child many 'natural' opportunities to move about and to learn.

When a child sees an interesting object, she reaches for it or crawls to get it. This helps her arms and legs grow strong.
Playing with objects helps a child learn thinking skills, like solving simple problems. Here a child learns how to bring her toy closer by pulling its string.

Playing also helps a child to talk. When she is interested in objects, she learns to name them.

Children naturally copy what they see. Watching other people helps a child learn how to do things and how to behave.

A young child learns to speak by hearing other people speak and by seeing what they talk about.

A child learns how to dress himself by watching other people.

A child who cannot see well has fewer 'natural' opportunities to learn. So he may learn skills more slowly than children who see, and his development may begin to fall behind.

Babies who cannot see well often play less because they do not see anything to play with.

This baby cannot hold up his head. This happened because he did not move about and play, so his neck muscles never grew strong.

His social development may begin to fall behind as well.

A child who cannot see well may not understand or take part in conversations because he cannot see what is being talked about.

So he may begin to spend a lot of time alone because he does not understand what others are saying.

Most of these problems do not have to happen. Children who cannot see can learn to use their other senses - their sense of hearing, touch, smell, and taste - to help them understand their world and to learn what other children usually learn by seeing.

Helping young children develop all areas of their body and mind through planned opportunities to experience, explore and play with things is called 'stimulation' or 'early assistance.' In this book you will find many simple activities that can be done as you play with your child or as you do your daily work. You can also adapt these activities so they fit with your child and your daily life. For example:

If you get your baby's attention with a noisy toy and show him the sound it makes......he will be more interested in playing. He will also learn to pay attention to sounds and where they come from.

If you encourage a child to use his sense of touch, hearing, and smell to find out what objects are like...

...he will learn more about the world and be able to talk about what he knows.

If you do these kinds of activities often, your child will have a childhood as full of fun and learning as any other c!iild. As he grows up he can learn to:
move about by himself...

play with other children...
help with the family's work...

... and go to school or learn a trade

What about my child's future?

Many parents worry about their child's future, even after he begins to learn new skills and go to school. They wonder, "What will happen when he grows up? How will he manage when we are gone?" Sometimes it helps parents to learn about others who, even though they cannot see, have grown up to lead full and satisfying lives - to have families of their own, to earn a living, and to become respected members of their communities. Blind people can achieve this when:

• People understand that blind children, like all children, can learn.
• Their families and communities help them succeed.

Note: Any organisation or person wishing to copy, reproduce or adapt any or all part of the book for the promotion of community eye care and for public welfare without commercial benefit is encouraged to do so, subject to the written permission obtained and acknowledged in the printed copy.