If you have a child with a disability, regardless of the nature and degree of that disability, you need to be aware that they have the right to live freely and equally, to integrate with society, to have a say in matters concerning themselves, to make choices, to participate in social, economic, political, and cultural activities, to acquire knowledge, etc. You must keep these principles in mind while raising them; because every child begins to acquire the values that shape their personality within the family, and a child who is raised incorrectly may suffer the consequences throughout their life. Visually impaired children go through the same stages as sighted children as they grow; they exhibit the same behaviors and developmental characteristics. You should be informed about the general developmental characteristics of children, as some families with a visually impaired child may panic, thinking that certain behaviors that are normal for the child's developmental stage are due to their blindness. A child who cannot see does not feel the need to reach for objects around them during crawling and walking stages, as they cannot see them, and therefore does not make an effort to do so. You should provide your visually impaired child with information about their surroundings and the objects around them, and encourage them to touch these objects. In all possible situations, if you allow your child to touch the mentioned items and hear their sounds, they will learn the meanings of the words they hear. For example, when it rains, let them hear the sound of the rain and talk to them about it, turn on the tap and talk about the water, let them touch a velvet fabric and tell them it is velvet, give them a spoon and explain what a spoon is. Visually impaired children must learn the things that sighted children learn independently with the support of their families; you must provide this support to your child. A visually impaired child may often stand with their head bowed; to prevent this, you should encourage them to lift and hold their head up. For example, lay your baby on their stomach and stand tall to talk to them, invent games. You must do everything you can to prevent your visually impaired child from being inactive and bored; otherwise, they may develop tics. Take them out for walks, take them to the park; open the way for them to do some things independently by allowing them to run and slide. Introduce them to every corner of their room, familiarize them with the house they live in, and do not frequently change the locations of the items in your home. Since visually impaired children cannot see objects at a glance, it is not possible for them to perceive them immediately as a whole. The characteristics of an object must be taught to them from part to whole; this is the only way their minds can grasp concepts. When visually impaired children reach the ages of 1-1.5, it is necessary to teach them about the organs in the body. This should be done both through the child's body and your own body. The child should first show the organs like arms, legs, and head on themselves, and then on the person in front of them. You must ensure that there are no sharp or harmful objects within their reach when your child is moving, so they do not become afraid to move around due to getting hurt by such things. You should buy sound-producing, movable, push-and-pull toys made of different materials like wood, plastic, and fabric for your visually impaired child who is just starting to walk. To expose your visually impaired baby to different stimuli, you can prepare pillows filled with lentils, beans, rice, etc., and allow them to lie on their back and stomach on these, enabling them to make contact with them. This way, they learn concepts like hard-soft, big-small, etc. Encourage them to walk and teach them movements like running, bending, lifting-extending their arms, and bending their knees through their own body. At the same time, you should name and describe these movements. When the weather and temperature conditions are suitable for this, allow your child to walk barefoot on different surfaces inside and outside the house. As they walk on surfaces like stones, carpets, marble, vinyl, gravel, asphalt, sand, tiles, and grass, they will learn about the differences in ground and surface. You should also teach them the properties of objects, such as cold-hot, thin-thick, soft-hard. Then, it is necessary to teach them about the materials these objects are made of, such as plastic, wood, glass, and fabric.
Child Development and Education
