[blParent] Question regarding the teaching of non-visual skills to infants

[Donna Casteen]

A small optic nerve in an offspring of a parent who has ONH doesn't necessarily mean that the child is on the blindness spectrum. Those diagnosed with ONH can be fully sighted or totally blind or have sight that falls anywhere within the 2 extremes. At 3 months old a child should be able to follow the light of a pen light held 12 inches away in their field of vision. Did the Doctor say if the baby was able to follow the light? Talk to the baby, offer rattles or squares of cloth with different textures. Play with the baby with age appropriate toys that plays music or has sound. Read age appropriate books to help develop speech. Touch & Feel books that can be purchased from seedlings.org is a great resource for print-braille board books. Honestly, it is hard to determine a young infants visual acuity, even with brain mapping. A lot of Doctors recommend this type of test when they suspect a visual impairment in a child less than 6 months. I mention this because my son had the test & the results showed that he had some sight. At his 6 month exam that diagnosis was changed to total blindness. 

Renee     
> 
> I am a blind parent, and I have been blind all my life. At my son's recent
> opthamology visit, they said that his optic nerve in at least one I was
> smaller than it should be. Since I have bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia, I
> understand very much what they are talking about. My question is, what is
> the best way to go about teaching non-visual techniques to my son? He is
> close to three and a half months old. Thank you .
> 
> Clayton Jacobs.
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