[blparent] curious.

Sun Feb 21 02:38:08 UTC 2016

I think my daughter developed her verbal skills earlier than other children 
her age did, since whining and pointing didn't get her what she wanted.  She 
has also developed a good sense of direction when we are out and about, and 
the ability to notice landmarks.  Kids tend to exercise and sharpen the set 
of skills they practice and use in their daily lives.

I'm not really sure how much the eye contact thing affected my daughter when 
she was a baby.  "Lack of proper eye contact and the fact that my facial 
expressions are "not always appropriate for the situation at hand" were two 
of the reasons my brother gave when he decided to take my baby away from me. 
But he didn't take her and she hasn't seemed to be negatively influenced by 
either of those two issues as she has grown up.

The only important thing I've really noticed about eye contact is that now, 
as my daughter has gotten older and TV and electronic devices have entered 
her life, I need to make sure I have her full attention when I'm talking to 
her.  That goes for the other people in my household as well.  We started 
having communication problems for a while because I would say something and 
get no answer, so I would say it again, and then my daughter or stepson, or 
sometimes their dad, would get irritated with me for repeating it.  I would 
tell them I repeated it because I'd gotten no answer, and if they didn't 
want me to repeat what I said, they could have given me some indication 
they'd heard me the first time.  Or sometimes I would say something and it 
didn't get heard because apparently nobody knew who I was talking to.  I 
guess it was a sighted thing--I hadn't looked at anybody and directed the 
conversation to that person in particular--but I still sometimes think it 
was more of a selective hearing thing because nobody wanted to take 
responsibility for what I had been saying; usually something about Mom not 
being the maid or the like.  Anyway, over time, we developed a system where 
I would say, "Are you listening to me" and use the person's name, and get a 
"yes" answer, and then go on.  Sort of the verbal equivalent of eye contact. 
It has at least reaffirmed my confidence in the fact that I'm speaking the 
same language as the other people in my household.  I used to wonder if I 
were thinking in English, but speaking some obscure Martian language every 
time I opened my mouth, since nothing I said seemed to be heard or 
understood.

Jo Elizabeth

"The Bright Side of Darkness"
is my newly published novel,
available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Tara Wiseman via BlParent
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 5:36 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Tara Wiseman
Subject: Re: [blparent] curious.

Do you guys think the children of blind parents are more verbal? I know my 
little 18-month-old daughter is extremely verbal. My pediatrician was very 
impressed with the way that Marie makes eye contact and said it was very 
unusual for her age. I read a study of children of blind moms. The children 
of blind mothers made iContact better thanor at the same level as their 
peers who were children of cited mothers. The theory was that because 
children were being taken care of by their blind moms and then presumably 
other sighted family members and friends it was very natural to them to make 
a switch between auditory and visual worlds.  Anyway just interested in what 
everyone thinks.
Tara

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 20, 2016, at 12:42 PM, Judy Jones via BlParent 
> <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Very cute.  Then she probably goes on to describe it.  I know our girls 
> were both and still are nonstop talkers.
>
> Judy
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent
> Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 11:57 AM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Cc: Jo Elizabeth Pinto
> Subject: Re: [blparent] curious.
>
> My daughter is almost eight years old, and she still half believes I have 
> a
> pair of working eyes hiding somewhere under the hair in the back of my 
> head.
> Sometimes she'll draw a picture or bring a really good paper home from
> school or something, and she'll be really excited and say, "Look, look!"
> I'll remind her I can't see it, and she'll say, "Mom!  Look with your back
> eyes!"
>
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "The Bright Side of Darkness"
> is my newly published novel,
> available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
> -----Original Message----- From: Judy Jones via BlParent
> Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 11:07 AM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Cc: Judy Jones
> Subject: Re: [blparent] curious.
>
> When raising my girls, my husband and I used to say, the eyes in the front
> of the head may not ork, but the ones in the back do.  We'd joke about it,
> and the girls knew what we meant.
>
> Judy
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Elizabeth Bowden via BlParent
> Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 7:59 PM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Cc: Elizabeth Bowden
> Subject: Re: [blparent] curious.
>
> What an interesting topic:
> For my part, I have many nieces and nephews but never had that difficulty.
> I am a to look like I am looking at them enough so that they don't notice
> anything till they are about 4 or 5.  Then they wonder why I keep my eyes
> closed sometimeso.  I just tell them I don't need my eyes like they do.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Feb 19, 2016, at 8:18 PM, Wendy Meuse via BlParent 
>> <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> i know that our own kids get used to the way we do things.  Eeven when my 
>> daughter was quite a small baby, my husband told me that
>> she could tel that  I was not looking at her. of course I was talking to 
>> her as any mother does, and I had my face turned towards
>> her, but of course our eyes did  not meet.  My daughter took this in 
>> stride.  Whenn I was watching other children though it took
>> them a little while to get used to me not  looking at them. i wondered 
>> iff any of you noticed this and did it take say, yourr
>> nabor's children or your  friend's children long to get used to this 
>> situation?  When I started worrking at daycare, it took some of
>> the kids a while to get used to it.  I had to work harder to win their 
>> confidence.  i thought this would be an  interesting topic
>> and I wondered what you guys thhink?
>> today is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.  let go of the past and 
>> move forward.
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> BlParent mailing list
>> BlParent at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> BlParent:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/bowdenelizabeth5%40gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/sonshines59%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/sonshines59%40gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> BlParent mailing list
> BlParent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> BlParent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/thflute%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
BlParent mailing list
BlParent at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
BlParent:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com 