[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

[Susan Harper]

   Personally I prefer old fashioned manipulative's.  I have twin three and
a half year olds.  We use many of the usual toys.  Some things I have
adapted.  There is a pig by Fisher Price that you put the coins in and it
gives musical feed back or counting feed back.  I also have found the hooked
on phonics hand held toys helpful in developing vocabulary with auditory
feed back.  I find my son likes the cause and effect toys that give some
type of feed back.  I use the Leap Frog toys.  Whenever possible I add the
Braille words or letters.  When you are looking to add words or letters,
make sure there is sufficient room on the game or toy to do so before
purchasing.  My son has a Perkins Brailler, which at this point he doesn't
use much, but I do.  He likes a kitchen set that I bought by Little Tykes
that makes realistic sounds when pots are put on the stove or he can push
the buttons to the microwave.  He likes the play dishes, fruits and
vegetable, and especially likes to play with water.  I also like the
magnetic letters with the Braille letters on them too.  We use these on the
refrigerator.

    I also use on a daily basis, magic beans.  This is something I have used
for years.  I use this to teach pincer grasp for later use with fine motor
skills.  I use a large grated cheese container with one flip up side that
has hole and the other that opens half way.  We use red kidney beans and put
them into the hole.  Of course this requires supervision due to the choking
hazard posed by the beans.  He just loves this.   I don't know why, but he
does.  We can count as we do this and when we are done we have a shaker we
can use set to music.  He likes pegs, stacking blocks (I find that he does
better with the ones that have some way to connect as it provides better
motivation.  He can stack higher and longer.), and single piece puzzles
(multiple piece puzzles at this point are confusing) that he can feel and
find the spot it goes in.

    My son loves music.  We have all types from lively to classic.  For
riding in the RV, he has a Fisher Price CD player (has anti-skip built in,
so good in vehicles), for which I purchased Fisher Price Head phones that
has a safety feature to protect hearing.  No matter how loud the CD player
is cranked, the head phones will only allow a safe level of sound.  So when
the others are watching videos traveling, he is listening to music or
stories.  I blissfully am able to have a conversation with my husband in the
front.

     Basically any toy that other 4 year olds like is a good thing, but may
need a little adaptation.  So don't rule out the old fashioned stuff too
quick.  I am sure there are more things I didn't mention than I did.

     Don't forget books.  Home made ones sometimes are the best.  Books with
repetitive and rhymes are excellent.

     Hope this helps!
Blessings,
Sue H.


On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 10:01 PM, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com> wrote:

> I got asked a question, the other day, and since most of my experience is
> with blind adults -- I didn't know quite what to say.  A woman said she had
> a four year old totally blind daughter, and she wanted her to keep up with
> her peers in technology, so what assistive technology/technology is there
>  -- should she start using with her child?
>
> Dave
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/sueharper%40firstchurchgriswold.org
>