PART 1 | The Significance of Early Intervention
As parents and educators, we always want the best for our children, especially when it comes to their well-being and independence. For children with visual impairments, early intervention is crucial for developing essential concept, sensorimotor & mobility skills. One invaluable tool in this journey is the long cane. By introducing the long cane at an early age, we can empower children to explore the world around them with confidence and independence. For children who have a visual impairment, as for all children, the freedom to move, to be self-amused, and experience the joy of movement is fundamental to being human. When exploring and traveling in the world, children have the need and drive to choose where and when to go and to initiate, sustain, monitor; and terminate their own movement. For parents, independent movement and travel means freedom because children will be learning to take age/stage appropriate responsibility for their own actions. This gives hope to parents, knowing that their child will grow to full capacity and be a full participant in life.
Over a series of three-part blog posts, we will discuss the importance of early intervention, the bottoms up approach, the benefits of using a long cane, and practical steps to introduce this mobility tool to children. Part one will look at the significance of early intervention for children who have a visual impairment.
The Significance of Early Intervention
Early intervention plays a pivotal role in shaping a child's development, particularly for those with visual impairments. Incidental learning and development of concepts and mobility skills that occur naturally for children who are sighted, often require explicit teaching for children who have a visual impairment. During their early years, children are incredibly receptive to learning new skills, making it the perfect time to introduce them to a long cane. By doing so, we help them develop spatial awareness, environmental concepts, orientation, and the ability to navigate their environment safely.
Touch and hearing will be your child's most important senses in learning nonvisual skills. Such skills will be their passport to freedom. Cane travel is a very important life skill for individuals who are blind. Orientation & Mobility Specialist and Founder of the Promotion Model, Joseph Cutter (2007), discusses the importance of acknowledging and understanding that the use of the cane is part of the readiness for independent travel. Readiness serves the goal of independence. A readiness curriculum that is forever getting the child ready to use the cane with unnecessary tasks that may serve the 'curriculum checklist' but not the goal of age/stage appropriate independence in movement and travel inhibits early intervention in long cane use and early independence. Therefore, valuing the early start to cane travel in blind children is important to begin their road to independence. One requirement in teaching this, is that parents and the O&M professional both place a high value on early movement and travel. The sighted/human guide technique, where the child holds on to someone else's arm, takes a back seat to the child's movement. Instead, providing encouragement to children in taking age/stage appropriate responsibility for their independent movement, and travel by developing self-monitored movement with the cane, will enable them to take a front seat on the road to independence.
Next week, we will look at Part 2 in the series where we go deep into the Bottoms-up Theory developed by Joesph Cutter as part of the Promotion Model.
For more information on early intervention and concept development Buy Now, Click Here, Read This eBook. If you enjoyed this blog or have more ideas to share please leave a comment below this post.
Thanks for reading!
Jax@TactileCollective
Reference:
Cutter, J. (2007). The Promotion Model (nfb.org)
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