WonderBaby.org

I am looking for resources for parents that are blind or visually impaired and are not sure what to expect as this is their first child and any tips or suggestions from people who are themselves visually impaired or blind or are knowledgeable about the topic and helpful suggestions for a new mother who is legally blind and expecting her first child soon. Also, the child is not expected to have a visual impairment and suggestions or tips on raising a child with no vision problems when one or both parents are visually impaired or blind.

When you're raising a child with a disability you can feel alone. There's so much you need to do and learn and I know you don't want to add one more thing to your list... but have you found yourself a good support group yet?

Maybe that sounds like a luxury and maybe you're thinking that you have too many other things to do first, but having a support network really can help you in the long run.

I understand first-hand what it means to never get sleep. Our daughter Abigail would only sleep random hours during the day and would be up all night playing and wanting to have "breakfast" and "dinner" when all of us were wanting to sleep.

A lot of people told us to adjust to her, that her needs came first. My husband and I literally had to take SHIFTS. He'd stay up with Abby until 2:30 am and I would take over from 2:30 until he got home from work. We quickly realized that adjusting to our little girl was not helping us and most importantly certainly wasn't helping HER.

Researchers at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science have found a way to use a single dose of a small, synthetic RNA-like molecule, called an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), to prevent the onset of deafness in mice that have been engineered to have Usher Syndrome.

If you're the parent of a special needs child in a wheelchair you may be realizing that you have a problem in your home: stairs!

Maybe there are a few steps to get in your front door and maybe your child's bedroom is on the second floor, up another flight of stairs. We had another problem too: the only bathroom in our house was upstairs!

Junior Blind of America's Infant & Early Childhood Program has been using iPads as part of its curriculum in order to study how children with CVI or low vision respond to iPad apps. The results are in and they are very encouraging!

The program has been using iPads to strengthen communication skills and functional vision. They are even going so far as to replace many of their lightboxes with iPads instead!

Baking in the kitchen is a wonderful experience for any kid and especially for children with special needs. In the kitchen kids can learn about math and measurements, cleanliness and hygiene as well as basic daily living skills.

Kids who are blind can learn where things are kept in the kitchen and how to find food in the refrigerator; they can experience different textures, flavors and smells and learn how ingredients mix together to create new dishes.

Amazon recently announced that they are adding features to their Kindle eReader apps (for iOS) that will make them more accessible to blind users. They say these features are available now for readers using their Kindle apps on Apple platforms and will be available soon for other platforms.

Using Kindle on their Apple devices, readers can:

Encourage your child to touch the closest wall, cabinet, or piece of furniture as she walks independently or holding your hand. Probably, the best areas for this are the hallway, kitchen and any time she moves from one room to another. This intermittent touching will help prepare for the brief trailing she will need to use to find specific doorways (bathroom, parent’s room, classroom) when consistently walking by herself.

Hiding toys in rice, beans or pasta is one of our favorite sensory games. All you need is a plastic bin, some small toys and dried beans and you've got a fun after school activity! Ivan likes to feel the rice or beans run through his fingers, scoop them with measuring cups or run them through funnels. He likes to find his toys then hide them under the rice again.

But I was thinking it might be time to come up with something a little different.