[blindkid] Notes on Eye Poking

[Brandy W]

Hi, I have to say that I agree and disagree with all this wonderful
information. I poked and I mean poked constantly! I slept this way, I
walked, I sat through class, I even sometimes ate this way, and no one
stopped me. Some time in middle school I had a few people who did they don't
poke sweet little reminders, but that really didn't help one bit! Then I had
a friend who said this is weird and you must stop!!! She was very stern, but
I was only around her a few times a week. With her help I got to the aware
place many of you have discussed where I could sometimes know I was doing
it, but after 20 years of eye poking I half the time didn't even know I was
doing it. I did notice that if I was upset, board, or having to sit still
the car or a long lecture being the worse in the still factor I did it. I
almost lost a good college friend over it because she later told me that it
was hard to have people stare at her with me using a cane and the cool blind
computer, but that was a stare of interest, but when my hand was in my eye
it was a stare of who is your friend the freak. At this point I knew I
needed to stop and I just couldn't! It was horrible. I found a few things
that helped, and one was simply having my hands be busy with silly putty, a
bracelet or other such thing, but the one thing that finally did it was
visiting a friend for about 2 and a half weeks who was dedicated to help me
stop. She was consistent, she was very stern, she provided unpleasant
consequences, and I was finally able to stop. Maybe it meets a need I'm not
sure, but what I know is that it is a lot easier to smack a little one's
hand, to put something in that child's hands, to make sure they are active,
to do everything from to the moon and back than it is to break this as an
adult. Do I ever poke now? No!!! The only time I have done this in the last
year was during a medical procedure, and an ambulance ride. I was alone and
allowed myself to revert. Once I did it took all my will power I had to make
sure I didn't revert back. I had quit once before and reverted, and the work
to stop again wasn't worth it. Yes you should try to find the reason for a
behavior, but as any behavior issue I say what will you think if your child
is still doing this in 10 years. If the answer is you don't want the
behavior than you need to stop it now. You don't let your child yell in
public even though it gives great sound feedback. You don't let your child
pick their nose because they don't see others not doing it, you don't let
your child hit others because they like to feel the sensation, you don't let
them stand in other's personal space, so don't let them poke, spin, jump,
flap or any other inappropriate behavior. You are the adult and you are
incharge. Help your children now the work later isn't fair or worth it.

What did I get from it? I really don't know. I could see a light, but only
if I pushed really really hard, and that isn't how hard I poked. My right
eye is slightly sunken back from extensive poking, so that is not a myth. I
used to suck on my pinky, and honestly the feelings I got of comfort and
such were the same as I got from poking my eyes. Sometimes I get this
feeling like I just need to, and I do find if I close my eyes fairly tight
for just a few seconds the need goes away. I have LCA, and some vision. I
can see colors, light, contrasts, but not enough as I am a Braille reader,
and cane user. 

So that is my two cents in the mater.

Bran
  



"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is
a spark." 
- Victor Hugo 

Brandy Wojcik  Discovery Toys Educational Consultant and Team leader
(512) 689-5045
www.playtoachieve.com
Follow me on Face Book at
http://www.facebook.com/PlayToAchieve.DiscoveryToys 

Read my new blog at www.playtoachieveballstobooks.wordpress.com

Looking forward to helping you with your educational toy needs!


-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Holloway
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 12:00 PM
To: Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Notes on Eye Poking

I think one thing it does (at lest for some) is stimulate the optic nerve in
some way. I'm typically sighted but I have noticed that pressing my eyes,
even in the dark can produce a bit of a visual sensation. I have always
assumed that my daughter gets something akin to visual stimulation from
pressing, but as she has no conscious recollection of having vision, she
would not be able to relate this as producing a visual experience if I'm
right. Besides, as I understand it, her brain would probably never have
mapped input from her optic nerves properly to her vision center, so who
knows where the information gets sent in the brain. I have also read that at
least in some cases, blind people's vision centers show up as active with
brain scans (even with no light perception), so that area can apparently be
remapped. In that case, who knows what would happen if optic nerve
information got sent to an already reassigned vision center... I would guess
the answer might vary from person to person.



On May 1, 2012, at 11:28 AM, Brian Hatgelakas wrote:

> Why does it happen?  What censessations do the blind inphants get?

_______________________________________________
blindkid mailing list
blindkid at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindkid:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/ballstobooks%40gmail.c
om