Families
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Vision impairment affects individual children in different ways. Some of the areas in which children might be affected are:
Movement
If a child cannot see a teddy bear, they have no motivation to move towards it. A child with vision impairment may also tend to lie still, which makes them feel more secure.
Hence, vision impairment may lead to:
- Decreased muscle tone
- Slower development of head control
- Limited reaching
- Slower development of crawling and walking.
They may also spend a lot of time mouthing objects, which is a normal way of exploring. They may take longer to develop fine motor skills and new physical skills like walking and jumping, which rely largely on imitation.
Senses
A child with vision impairment can also be tactile-defensive, or afraid to touch certain textures. This can include food.
They may:
- Have limited body awareness
- Enjoy vibration, circular movement, rocking and jumping
- Enjoy deep pressure to their joints and muscles.
Communication
Children with vision impairment miss out on the stage of pointing to objects and having them named, which can lead to delayed speech.
They may also need encouragement to initiate conversations, as they can’t see visual cues, like someone turning towards them. They also miss out on body language and gestures.
It is common for a child with vision impairment to repeat the speech of others. This is known as “echolalia”, and is possibly a way of maintaining interaction with other people. Children may also ask inappropriate questions in an attempt to work out who is in the room and where they are located, or to keep up verbal interaction to maintain a sense of security.
Social
A child with vision impairment may not interact with their peers much, and might not initiate social contact due to reduced eye contact and movement. Often they don’t engage in much exploratory play – for instance, exploring a tunnel.