In this examination of the social interactions of children with visual impairments, theory and research are combined to explore how these children can be helped to succeed socially. Innovative practical strategies are provided for educators, researchers, and families on how to assist children in the development of social skills. Qualitative ethnographic approaches demonstrate how classroom teachers can work effectively with individual children and present valuable insights about children's interactions.

"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.

Early Focus synthesizes and makes understandable the experience of professionals from such fields as: education, orientation and mobility, pediatrics, ophthalmology and optometry, psychology, occupational therapy, and social work. This is a resource for both professionals and parents.

The Classic Edition of this foundational text includes a new preface from Miguel Pérez-Pereira, examining how the field has developed since first publication. The volume provides an in-depth account of blind children's developing communicative abilities, with particular emphasis on social cognition and language acquisition from infancy to early school age. It provides insights into why the development of blind children may differ from that of sighted children and explores development of "theory of mind" and perspective taking in language learning. It also discusses the caregiver–child interaction, research on early intervention and practical strategies for blind children that can assist parents and practitioners. The up-to-date preface discusses recent neurological research and the comparison between the psychological development of visually impaired and autistic children. Language Development and Social Interaction in Blind Children continues to facilitate dialogue between those interested in the study of typically developing children and those interested in the development of children who are blind, and challenges some widely held beliefs about the development of communication in blind children.

ECC Essentials: Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to Students with Visual Impairments is the first comprehensive book for teachers of students with visual impairments to focus on the nine areas of the ECC that encompass the unique skills children and adolescents with visual impairments need to learn in order to access the core educational curriculum and become independent individuals, by providing the rationale, suggestions, and strategies necessary to implement instruction. The nine areas include compensatory access, sensory efficiency, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, independent living, social interaction, recreation and leisure, career education, and self-determination. ECC Essentials helps teachers manage time efficiently and effectively; work with students of different ages and ability levels; collaborate with parents and other members of the educational team; conduct assessments; align instruction with state standards and the general education core curriculum; and maximize planning effectiveness. The book includes learning activities that combine several areas of the ECC; information about additional resources; specific guidelines and strategies for teaching each of the nine areas of the ECC. ECC Essentials provides teachers with a road map for helping their students achieve success in school and in life.

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.

The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

This book is the result of the first two-year work of Working Group 1 of the network “LUDI – Play for children with disabilities”. LUDI is an Action (2014-2018) financed by COST; it is a multidisciplinary network of more than 30 countries and almost 100 researchers and practitioners belonging to the humanistic and technological fields to study the topic of play for children with disabilities within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (WHO, 2001).The principal objective of this book is to bring the LUDI contribution to the important topic of play in children with disabilities, because today an international consensus on the definition of play and disabilities is still lacking. The process of ensuring equity in the exercise of the right to play for children with disabilites requests three actions: to approach this topic through a “common language”, at least all over Europe; to put play at the centre of the multidisciplinary research and intervention regarding the children with disabilities; to grant this topic the status of a scientific and social theme of full visibility and recognized authority. Children with disabilities face several limitations in play, due to several reasons: impairments; playgrounds, toys and other play tools that are not accessible and usable; environments and contexts that are not accessible nor inclusive; lack of educational awareness and intentionality; lack of specific psycho-pedagogical and rehabilitative competence; lack of effective intervention methodologies. Moreover, disabled children’s lives are dominated by medical and rehabilitative practices in which play is always an activity aiming to reach an objective or to provoke an improvement; play for the sake of play is considered a waste of time. The concept of play for the sake of play strongly refers to the distinction between play activities and play-like activities. Play activities are initiated and carried out by the player (alone, with peers, with adults, etc.) for the only purpose of play itself (fun and joy, interest and challenge, love of race and competition, ilinx and dizziness, etc.). They have of course consequences on growth and development, but these consequences are not intentionally pursued. Play-like activities are initiated and conducted by an adult (with one or more children), in educational, clinical, social contexts; they are playful and pleasant, but their main objective is other than play: e.g., cognitive learning, social learning, functional rehabilitation, child's observation and assessment, psychological support, psychotherapy, etc. This book, then, contributes to a clear distinction between play and play-like activities that, hopefully, will bring to new developments in play studies.

The Routledge Handbook of Visual Impairment examines current debates as well as cross-examining traditionally held beliefs around visual impairment. It provides a bridge between medical practice and social and cultural research drawing on authentic investigations. It is the intention of this Handbook to provide an opportunity to engage with academic researchers who wish to ensure a coherent and rigorous approach to research construction and reflection on visual impairment that is in collaboration with, but sometimes is beyond, the medical realm. This Handbook is divided into ten thematic areas in order to represent the wide range of debates and concepts within visual impairment. The ten themes include: cerebral visual impairment; education; sport and physical exercise; assistive technology; understanding the cultural aesthetics; socio-emotional and sexual aspects of visual impairment; orientation, mobility, habitation, and rehabilitation; recent advances in "eye" research and sensory substitution devices; ageing and adulthood. The 27 chapters that explore the social and cultural aspects of visual impairment can be taken and used in a variety of different ways in order to promote research and generate debate among practitioners and scholars who wish to use this resource to inform their practice in supporting and developing positive outcomes for all.

NOTE: This storybook includes a read-aloud option which is accessible on Google and IOS devices. Blast off with the gang to an alien planet in outer space. In storybook 3 of the We Thinkers! Vol. 1 social emotional learning curriculum for ages 4-7, Molly, Evan, Jesse, and Ellie learn how to communicate with friendly aliens by thinking with their eyes since they don’t speak Bleep! Bleep! Bloop! They quickly learn that our eyes are like arrows that point to what we are looking at and probably thinking about, too. They figure out what the aliens might be thinking and feeling by using their eyes to follow what the alien’s eyes are pointed toward and the expression on its face. It’s so much fun to figure out what’s going on in a situation, communicate, and make new friends—all by using our eyes! Continue building on this important social concept with the fundamental concepts taught in storybooks 4-10, which align with the corresponding teaching units within the related curriculum. Best practice: teach these concepts in order, starting with storybook 1 of 10 while using the corresponding curriculum.