Patient Information Package 3

Early Childhood Intervention Series

Starting Early, Staying Ahead

(Five-volume series on Early Intervention)
Author: Ms Mallineni Sharmila
Year of Production: 2004

Children-with-Visual-Impairment need our help to move the different parts of their body, as they are unable to see. As their Early Interventionist, you have to ensure that they move their body often and experience the coordinated movements of their hands and legs. In this two-part first volume of the video series, we illustrate separately the gross and fine motor development in these children. We suggest ways in which to enhance the rate at which they reach important milestones.

Volume 1 - Motor Development
Part 1 - Gross Motor Development
TRT: 18:13 min; Part 2 - Fine Motor Development

TRT: 16:37 min
Year of Publication: ?

Volume 2 - Communication Development

Duration: 17:30 min
Year of Publication: 2006

In the development of communication skills in early childhood, it is difficult for a child with visual impairment to keep pace with the progress of a sighted child. While it is quite normal for all infants to cry and coo to attract attention, a child with visual impairment requires repeated encouragement to respond to your interactions. Viewing our video on Early Intervention for Communication Development prepares you to engage the child in face-to-face interactions, establish eye contact with the child and coax the child into turn-talking routines during pre-verbal conversations. By providing verbal stimulation and by describing in words everything that the child experiences, we not only build the child’s vocabulary and ability to express oneself but also instill confidence that is so necessary to develop relationships. The video is illustrated with examples such as teaching the child to turn towards the speaker and introducing the child to things, events and people in their natural surroundings. All these instances help prepare the child for more formal and effective interactions, paving the way for better communication skills.

Volume 3 - Cognition Development

Duration: 28:47 min
Year of Publication: 2006

There are many aspects to cognition and this instructional video illustrates some learning situations that can be created to provide children with visual impairment the exposure required to develop the cognitive processes of thinking, imagery and memory. We have documented here the cognitive measures of Intersensory Coordination, Object Permanence, Object Constancy, Generalization, Knowing Oneself, Cause and Effect, Problem Solving, Categorization and Symbolization. By becoming aware of the various objects in the surroundings, the child is better able to relate to the environment. As the child learns to be comfortable with known spaces and places, he or she also learns to adjust to new objects and new environments with relative ease. A well-developed memory leads to better visual recognition.

Volume 4 - Socio-emotional Development and Self-help Skills

A strong foundation in social skills is crucial for the child to grow up to be a socially competent adult, one who gets along with others and is confident of overcoming any social challenges that are sure to arise along the way. We demonstrate how to teach the child to initiate and sustain a good relationship with family members and others.

The inability of the child with visual impairment to see and imitate your actions causes severe delay in reaching the normal milestones of development. The video is an overview of the myriad ways in which you can teach the child to accomplish activities of daily living on one’s own, instilling in the child the ability to take care of oneself.

Volume 5 - Functional Vision Assessment

It is possible to gauge the extent of residual vision in a child with visual impairment by observing the child participating in different activities. To facilitate the measurement, the activities are framed according to the principles of Awareness-Attention-Understanding, Fixation and Tracking, Near and Far, Peripheral and Central, Familiar and Unfamiliar, Parts and Whole, Simple and Complex, and Large and Small. This video on Functional Vision Assessment introduces the viewer to a great teaching tool - the Be-Active Box. Equipped with attractive focus lights, colourful toys, bright paper, beads, spoons, bangles and keys, the wooden structure controls the environment around the child and serves as an ideal place for the child to learn to be active. The use of visual and tactile stimuli hanging close to but just out of reach of the child promotes motor development even as it helps generate the concepts of cause and effect, spatial relations and object permanence. We find that the stimulating surroundings of the Be-Active Box enable the child to respond to the objects by focussing, scanning, localizing and tracking and equip him or her to use his residual vision optimally.