By rolling, crawling or walking, infants and toddlers explore in wider and wider circles beyond their parent’s reach. “What happens if I go inside this box?” “What makes that sound?” When a child with a visual impairment feels safe and has a good sense of where her body is in space, and her motor skills are becoming more coordinated, then she will be eager to explore in a wider circle.
This is a stage when a child may get stuck under a table, or step in a puddle, or push her head into a toy. It takes time to explore and confirm by touch what is not clear to the eye. Very often, adults interfere and don’t allow the child to explore and discover on her own. If we have vision, we see the task immediately and forget to give the child “wait time.” This style of learning takes longer.
Developmentally, all children need to discover without being told what to discover. A child with low vision needs time to put together the pieces of an object that she has explored into a conceptual whole. We can support this exploration by talking about her movements in simple sentences, focusing on her interest.
