Children who are blind or visually impaired need to be able to make intentional choices rather than adults making all choices for them. The environment needs to be adapted to support their choice-making opportunities. The child can choose using their strengths -- reaching, touching, vocalizing, moving, and looking. The parent learns to read the unique cues from their child. This is a way for a little one to let the parent know what they like and a way for the parent to let them know that they are heard. Choice making is shared joy!
Objectives
Bond with caregiver.
Learn to communicate by making choices.
Give children control over parts of their lives where possible. The more control you give to a child with disabilities, the more risks they will take. Risk-taking supports learning.
Possibly prevent disruptive behavior by giving children ways to engage appropriately. For example, instead of head-banging or throwing a tantrum to communicate, a child can touch or look at the ball to communicate their interest in playing with it.
Expanded Core Curriculum Areas Supported
Self-Determination: Choice making, decision making and problem solving. We can learn about the child’s preferences, and the child can learn how to express preferences.
Social Skills: Bonding and communicating with caregiver during the activity.
Recreation and Leisure: Recreation and leisure activities are all about choosing what you like to do in your free time.
Sensory Efficiency: Use senses to explore, understand, and gain information, especially functional vision, touch, movement, and hearing.
Orientation and Mobility: Making choices involves body awareness and reaching out from the body.
Independent Living Skills: Being able to make a choice and be an active participant in daily living skill activities like eating and dressing might help the child be more engaged and learn the skill faster.
Compensatory Skills: Learning to use alternative techniques to promote engagement, exploration, and communication.
Everyday Routines Supported
This activity supports play time, mealtime, dressing, bath time, and most routines during the day.
Suggested Next Steps to Use This Activity With Caregiver and Child
Discuss activity with caregiver to determine appropriateness and relevancy to family.
Forward the caregiver version of the activity to the caregiver.
Remind the primary caregiver one to two days before the home/virtual visit to gather the materials required.
Introduce the activity, discuss the objectives, and provide an overview of the possible steps.
Be prepared to break down the activities into a smaller subset as the child and family may not have the time or tolerance to complete all activities.
After completing this activity, consider extension activities that may be appropriate and relevant to the family.
