[blindkid] Learning how to play?

[Brandy W]

Hi, I can understand that this must be frustrating for all involved. I'm a
blind teacher who cares for and tutors children in my home who has been
caring for children for about 18 years. So this is my opinion for what it is
worth.

First if your 3 year old is hitting and biting and all of that it must stop
now! You need to teach your child that it is not ok. Whatever method you
choose this is up to you, but it has to stop. When she is ready to go to
school this will not work, and can actually get her kicked out of school.
Now with that said we should always look for why a child does something. Do
you spend significantly more time with your blind child? If so she could be
jealous and not understand. Does she have trouble communicating with others?
These are things to think about and problem solve.

Now for your blind child. Most blind children play. While they may have
trouble playing with other sighted children they can learn to play and
generally do. Like most skills there has to be practice over a wide variety
of settings with a wide variety of people. Children also learn by watching
others. Since this will be tougher for her as blind children sometimes don't
move beyond parallel play as young as sighted children because they don't
observe what others are doing. Your daughter needs to be taught to play, and
the best way to do this is to play with her. Get small figurines, and play
with her, make the figurines or dolls talk. Use dolls and pretend to care
for them, act out real life scenarios as that is what children do at this
age. They pretend what happens all around them every day, They make up
pretend things. Play simple games like rolling a ball back and forth between
2 or 3 people. Play simple games like Tick Tack Toe. Stack blocks and knock
them down. There are so many things to play.  Your daughter should be around
sighted children playing, blind children playing if you can and be taught to
engage herself. Reading books, and watching TV with good dialog will help.

If you tell us where you live maybe we can help you connect with other
families with similar aged children.

I know this is difficult, but keep asking questions and your daughter will
learn to interact just like others her age. 



"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 Julie Dabbieri
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 12:34 PM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindkid] Learning how to play?

I have 2 daughters. My 5 yr old is blind, my 3 yr old is not. We have had a
lot of aggressive behavior from our 3 yr old towards our 5 yr old. Althou
the reasons for the aggression seem to be multifaceted, but one that makes
sense to us is that our 5 yr old wont play with her. We have not pushed this
because I understood why my 5 yr old would not want to play with someone who
hits bites, pulls her hair, etc. I am trying very hard to facilitate play
between them, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Lastnight my 5 yr
old said, I don't know how to play with her. This is true, she doesn't know
how to socialize with children very well. It is something we have been
working on and is in her IEP. Do any of you have any experience,
suggestions, recommendations for anything? We are open to just about
Anything at this point. We realize both our girls have ha ing trouble
because of this issue, and it's very sad, and frustrating.
Thank you for any response!
Julie 

Sent from my iPad
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