This practical resource is designed to help professionals, parents and carers as they support children with vision impairments to develop independence in everyday tasks. Using the Early Years Foundation Stage framework as a basis, it provides a wealth of strategies and activities to develop key skills, including dressing, maintaining personal hygiene, eating and drinking and road safety. This is an invaluable tool that can be dipped in and out of to help make learning fun, boosting the child’s confi dence and helping create a positive ‘can- do’ attitude when faced with new challenges. This book: ◆ Addresses the main problem areas for babies and young visually impaired children and their families, by providing simple explanations of skills and offering strategies and techniques to support progression onto the next stage. ◆ Is written in a fully accessible style, with photocopiable pages and additional downloadable resources. ◆ Provides a variety of documentation to chart the child’s development and show progress over time. Research shows strong indicators that early intervention can reduce or eliminate developmental delays in children with a vision impairment. The supporting strategies in this book help busy professionals and carers to make every opportunity a learning opportunity, allowing children with a vision impairment to become confi dent and independent individuals.

"This book expands upon the knowledge base and provides a compendium of intervention strategies to support and enhance the acquisition of social skills and children and youths with visual impairments ... Part 1 ... addresses social skills from a first-person perspective. The second part ... examines how theory seeks to explain social development and influences assessment and practice ... Part 3, ties personal perspectives and theory to actual practice. Finally, Part 4 ... offers numerous examples and models for teaching social skills to students who are blind or visually impaired, including those with additional disabling conditions."--Introduction.

Packed with important information for today's parents and professionals, this new edition of a groundbreaking work presents the latest research on how visually impaired children learn and develop at different ages and in the various developmental domains: sensory development, communication, movement, manipulation, and comprehension. Clear, practical, and reassuring, and full of suggested activities, this book provides a guide to teaching young visually impaired children the important life skills they need to know--skills that other children may learn simply by observation and imitation--and preparing them to enter school ready to learn with their peers. From early intervention services to the full range of educational placements, Reach Out and Teach is the ultimate guide to helping a visually impaired child learn and grow.

This practical resource is designed to help professionals, parents, and carers on their journey to independence with children and young people with vision impairments. Building on the ideas and practices introduced in Supporting Life Skills for Young Children with Vision Impairment and Other Disabilities, this book addresses middle childhood, the period from when the child starts school, through to the onset of puberty. It offers a wealth of practical strategies and activities to enhance key skills, including personal safety, advanced dressing, personal hygiene, dealing with puberty, social skills, time, money and organisational skills, eating, drinking and food preparation skills, and the transition to secondary school. This book: Addresses the main independent living skills areas for vision impaired children in middle childhood, by providing simple explanations of skills and offering practical strategies and techniques to support progression onto the next stage. Is written in a fully accessible style, with photocopiable pages and additional downloadable eResources. Provides a variety of documentation to chart the child’s development and show progress over time. This invaluable resource puts the changes that occur during middle childhood into context and will help busy professionals, families and carers start preparing children with a vision impairment for adulthood, allowing them to become confident and independent individuals.

Young children who are visually impaired and have additional disabilities need to learn to use their sense of touch effectively to promote their growth, development, and ability to communicate. This manual provides teachers, early interventionists, and parents with critical information about alternative communication methods not based on the use of vision as well as countless practical strategies. Topics include assessing a child's skills, planning interventions, and selecting appropriate tactile strategies to meet the child's needs.

This innovative handbook offers special education teachers, career counselors, and parents a comprehensive range of tested techniques and strategies to help youngsters who are blind or visually impaired begin to build the skills they need for successful careers. It introduces specific activities for preparing visually impaired children from preschoolers through middle school for the next level of schooling and to become independent in daily life, confident about their career choices, and skillful on their future jobs.

Early intervention services are essential for infants and toddlers who are visually impaired and have some functional vision that they will be able to use for everyday activities--not only to ensure their early development but also to help them learn to use their vision with maximum effectiveness, right from the start. Everyday Activities to Promote Visual Efficiency offers guiding principles for early intervention with very young children who are visually impaired and who may also have additional disabilities. This important new resource provides simple activities that can be incorporated easily by families and service providers into the everyday routines of a baby or child to facilitate early visual development and use of functional vision.

This easy-to-understand guide explains the role of paraeducators (sometimes called classroom aides, teaching assistants, or paraprofessionals) in working with students who are visually impaired and assisting other members of the educational team. When You Have a Visually Impaired Student in Your Classroom: A Guide for Paraeducators provides basic information about visual impairment, the learning needs of visually impaired students, and the special devices and materials they use. Includes easy-to-use forms to help organize information and tasks.

"Published in conjunction with the Perkins School for the Blind."

When a child with an autism spectrum disorder is also visually impaired, the effects on learning and behavior and complex and varied. Two exceptional educators condense their years of personal and professional experience into a one-of-a-kind handbook of effective ways to work with such students, including suggestions and approaches for assessment, instruction, and program planning; forms and tools for capturing vital information; information on assessment instruments, instructional materials, and web sites rich in important advice. Professionals and educators, as well as parents, will find critical guiding principles and valuable strategies.