What would you do if you had a blind child?

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Ettina

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Just had an interesting thought. What if you had sighted Deaf parents with a hearing blind child? What would be the best approach for language development and having a good connection with the parents? Would you try to figure out a way to sign with them like tactile sign or using whatever residual vision they have to sign to them? Or would you try to speak even if you might not speak very well or understand them trying to talk back? Seems like a really tough situation and I'm curious what people think of it.
 
My partner and I are hoh and my 8 year old has an eye disease. She is not blind yet. But it's going faster than expected.
What's left of my hearing will be going in a few months after a much needed surgery. Knowing all of this in advance we had the same problem, but more time to think.
So my idea was that the house learns asl and braille. That way we can still communicate in each language. A text to speech is also helpful. That way the child could hear the words and learn spoken language.
I hope this helps.
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
My partner and I are hoh and my 8 year old has an eye disease. She is not blind yet. But it's going faster than expected.
What's left of my hearing will be going in a few months after a much needed surgery. Knowing all of this in advance we had the same problem, but more time to think.
So my idea was that the house learns asl and braille. That way we can still communicate in each language. A text to speech is also helpful. That way the child could hear the words and learn spoken language.
I hope this helps.
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Oh that's AWESOME..........so you're being super proactive? So stoked she's learning Braille.......what about intense O&M and other blind skills?
 
deafdyke said:
Oh that's AWESOME..........so you're being super proactive? So stoked she's learning Braille.......what about intense O&M and other blind skills?
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Honestly I have never heard of o and m. I don't know much about blindness. I am trying to learn as much as I can. She can still see at the moment. So I want all my ducks in a row. I will look into o and m
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
Honestly I have never heard of o and m. I don't know much about blindness. I am trying to learn as much as I can. She can still see at the moment. So I want all my ducks in a row. I will look into o and m
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It's Orientation and Mobilty. Great approach...... I know my friends who are DB or blind/low vision generally didn't get intense blind skills while growing up. Is there a blind school in your state? They might be able to help you. If there's not a blind school, or if it's one of the ones that mostly serve severely multiplely disabled kids, maybe check into a blind school in a neighboring state? Their Outreach could help you. I know there are Lighthouses for the Blind or other local blind organizations (mostly in cities) They might be able to hook you up with All There is to Know About Pediatric Blindness. I remember a DB friend of mine saying that there's still a debate about blind schools. I also know that it's hard to track down good resources and options for blind kids b/c it's become VERY low incidence. But yeah, look into everything. It does sound like your kid is the type who may benefit from a "short term course" approach (where students go to the blind school for a week or several days to work on blind skills), as well as blind camps and knowing other blind/low vision kids. Wish it was easier to track down blind/low vision resources for kids.
 
deafdyke said:
It's Orientation and Mobilty. Great approach...... I know my friends who are DB or blind/low vision generally didn't get intense blind skills while growing up. Is there a blind school in your state? They might be able to help you. If there's not a blind school, or if it's one of the ones that mostly serve severely multiplely disabled kids, maybe check into a blind school in a neighboring state? Their Outreach could help you. I know there are Lighthouses for the Blind or other local blind organizations (mostly in cities) They might be able to hook you up with All There is to Know About Pediatric Blindness. I remember a DB friend of mine saying that there's still a debate about blind schools. I also know that it's hard to track down good resources and options for blind kids b/c it's become VERY low incidence. But yeah, look into everything. It does sound like your kid is the type who may benefit from a "short term course" approach (where students go to the blind school for a week or several days to work on blind skills), as well as blind camps and knowing other blind/low vision kids. Wish it was easier to track down blind/low vision resources for kids.
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I will look into this. I do have a blind school in my state although I don't know how good it is. It use to be an independent school. But was knocked down and the blind kids went to the deaf school. Now I don't know if they are still at the deaf school or another location. All I know is it's in my town.
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
I will look into this. I do have a blind school in my state although I don't know how good it is. It use to be an independent school. But was knocked down and the blind kids went to the deaf school. Now I don't know if they are still at the deaf school or another location. All I know is it's in my town.
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If there's no blind school in your state, sometimes schools from bordering states will serve blind kids from that state. Also the Lighthouse for the Blind or local blind organizations might be an option. Good luck. And as I said, it does sound like your kid will respond VERY well to a short term course, blind camp and knowing other blind kids approach..... Just a matter of tracking down the resources etc
 
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