[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

[Heather]

That is an excellent mixture of traditional and advanced toys.  Good for 
you.  I love the counting beans idea, as well as the creativity in your 
choices.  I am going to look for a pair of those noise safe headphones, 
thanks for letting me know about them.  I am very fortunate.  My mother 
brailled over a hundred print books for me.  I love them because they have 
the print for low vission kids and their sighted friends, the pretty 
pictures and the braille literacy component.  The twin vission books I had 
as a child, they may have changed since then, were inappropriate for solo 
reading by under fives because they could be easily torn apart and they were 
expensive.  They may have fixed this problem though, as this was over twenty 
years ago.  She brailled on the clear dimo tape and clear sheets that are 
like dimo tape and put it right into print books, and now, my son has all of 
those books to explore.  I am going to go hug my mom, just because.  It must 
have taken her hours and hours to do all of that, and as a young mother, 
still in school, I would not have nearly so many brailled picture books, if 
it wasn't for her efforts.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Harper" <sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid


>   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
>>
>>
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