Multiple Disabilities

We will share how to support your child who has blindness and additional disabilities with current articles and tips. 

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A young girl putting a bead onto a peg.

Does My Blind/Low Vision Child Have Additional Disabilities? 

Vision plays an important role in how children explore, imitate, and learn from their surroundings. Without visual input, children rely more heavily on other senses, which may affect the pace and style of learning. When vision loss occurs alongside another disability, processing and understanding information can become even more complex, requiring specialized strategies and supports.  […]

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A child in supported seat looking towards alight up toy.

Cognitive Disabilities and Your Child with Blindness or Low Vision

Children who have complex needs that involve cognition or thinking have difficulty understanding information and processing it. A common cause of cognitive disabilities is an intellectual disability. A child may seem to have cognitive disabilities due to other impairments affecting their function. For instance, a child with blindness and severe cerebral palsy might have limited […]

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Photo of object attached to communication cards. Cards for Diaper, beads, bottle, toothbrush, cup, spoon and a piece of blanket flannel.

Communication for Young Children with Blindness or Low Vision and Multiple Disabilities

What was your child’s first word?  This question seems innocent enough, but it caused a great deal of heartache for me every time someone asked it. With respect to my daughter Mary, that first word was never spoken. Throughout our years in Early Intervention, we focused a great deal of effort and energy on encouraging […]

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young girl playing in a ball pit reaching to an adult

Embracing the Sensorimotor Stage

When a child has complex needs involving vision, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments, it’s tempting to rush to introduce using a switch or a communication device, but slowing down and providing your child the time needed to practice and master skills in the sensorimotor stage may be the key to unlocking these higher-level goals.    For […]

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boy in a wheelchair holding a basketball looking down with the teacher holding his hands out.

The Value of Exploration

Exploring an object by shaking, banging, throwing, touching, or mouthing is one of the first steps in learning the properties of an object and its use. For a child who is blind or low vision with motor impairments that limit their ability to explore items, caregivers can help provide opportunities to teach and practice exploration […]

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