[blparent] Not a Blind Parent, but wondering something.

[Steve Jacobson]

Hi,

This is a very complicated question because the reasons that kids and even
adults are nonverbal vary so greatly, as you already know.  There just isn't
one answer.  I know of a blind man who was married to a deaf woman and they
communicated but I don't know what approach was used.  Those of us who are
blind parents had to learn to communicate with our kids before they talked,
and a number of methods are employed to do that.  I was blind since birth
and my sighted parents had to figure out how to teach me words even though
their normal way of teaching would not work for them or me.  My point here
is not to minimize the challenges because there are many when dealing with
kids that have various types of communication issues.  Rather, I'm saying
that there are likely ways to deal with specific situations, but the methods
are going to be very specific.  How a blind parent might communicate with a
deaf child is going to be different from how a blind professional deals with
a child who is nonverbal for other reasons.  

Autism is so variable.  How a blind parent would communicate with a
nonverbal autistic child will depend greatly on what kinds of communication
works with that child with others.  If you are thinking of a specific
situation, someone on our Human Services list may have a greater knowledge
of methods that would be effective.  Many autistic kids react positively to
computers, for example.  It isn't difficult now to have a computer that will
speak whatever is touched, for example, something that would have been
impossible not long ago.  Obviously, pictures with braille labels could
work.  Even packages with pictures that make different sounds when shaken by
the child could provide feedback to a blind person.  There would have to be
more thought on how to communicate more abstract concepts, of course, and I
am not pretending to know what would work best.  My attempt here is just to
provide a general answer knowing that the specifics might vary.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson



-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent <blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jolynn Page via
BlParent
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2018 1:46 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jolynn Page <linnie1516 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Not a Blind Parent, but wondering something.

Hi,
I have also been wondering about this. What would you do if you were a blind
parent with say an autistic child who's communication is not at a level
where they can speak to you what they want.

Jolynn 

> On Mar 3, 2018, at 7:34 AM, Daniella Roccasalvo via BlParent
<blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello all, As the subject line states, I am not a blind parent but was
wondering. I am hoping to become a developmental service worker in a few
months, and go into that program. My question is, how do you communicate if
you cannot see with someone who is non-verbal? How do you know what they
want? Did any of you as parents learn sign language? If so, how did you do
it? Furthermore, if it wasn't your child how would you go about doing
physical care for an individual if you had no sight? Thank you all!
Daniella.
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