Different kinds of chairs can be found all around the house. But what makes a chair a chair? They can be used to teach your child who is visually impaired about many different concepts besides how they’re used as seats. There are chairs with backs, chairs with arms, stools with no backs or arms, chairs that rock, chairs that roll, and even chairs that mold to your body. Chairs can also be incorporated into parent-child play and literacy activities.
Objectives
Increase concept development about seats and the activity of sitting.
Use different senses, including touch and sound, to explore furniture in the home.
Expanded Core Curriculum Areas Supported
Compensatory Skills: Concept development about everyday objects, touch skills for learning and communication modes, including audio.
Orientation and Mobility: Purposeful movement and spatial relationships from one’s body to a chair or other furniture.
Social Skills: Bonding and communicating with caregiver during the activity by playing with shared items in a home.
Self-Determination: Choice making, decision making and problem solving. For example, what chair should I sit in? When should I sit down?
Independent Living: Many common household tasks are completed using a chair.
Sensory Efficiency: Use senses to explore, understand and interact with furniture found in the home, especially functional vision, touch, hearing, and the development of the kinesthetic and vestibular systems.
Everyday Routines Supported
This chair activity supports many daily routines like mealtime, story time, and playtime. Sitting in a chair – whether it’s a seat in a car, in a grocery cart, at a desk, or around the kitchen table – is part of everyday life.
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 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.
