Developing Multisensory Skills in Blind Babies

Written by Amber Bobnar

Updated on November 27, 2024

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• Typical infant development is very visual, but this modality is missing or strongly diminished in babies who are severely visually impaired.
• Most of our understanding of infant development relies on observing how babies respond to visual cues.
• Understanding how both blind and sighted babies interact with touch and sound can help us support blind babies as they learn about their world.

Vision acts as a way to integrate different sensory inputs. For example, if you see a dog, hear it bark, and touch its soft fur, you can use your vision to pull all those elements together to understand what a dog is. For infants who are visually impaired, the loss of the visual component makes it difficult to understand that the soft animal they are touching and the barking sound they are hearing are coming from the same source.

Vision is even more critical when developing an understanding of space and how your body is oriented in a room or how objects are related to each other.

A recent study titled Multisensory Spatial Perception in Visually Impaired Infants and published in the November 2021 issue of Current Biology explores how sighted and severely visually impaired (SVI) babies respond to touch and sound and how this may affect their understanding of how they are oriented in their environment.

The study researchers emphasize that “the important role that vision plays in the early development of multisensory spatial perception raises the possibility that impairments in spatial perception are at the heart of the wide range of difficulties that visually impaired infants show across spatial, motor, and social domains.”

Touch, Sound, and Sensory Integration

Sensory integration relies heavily on the visual. Body perception, manipulation, interaction, and coordination all rely on a strong sense of sensory integration. Sighted babies use all of their senses together to understand their bodies and the world around them.

But what if we were to try to isolate how both sighted and blind babies respond primarily to touch and sound?

This study looked at how both sighted and blind babies responded to objects that (a) made a sound, (b) vibrated, or (c) made a sound and vibrated at the same time. These objects were placed in babies’ hands and their responses recorded. 

When given objects that make both a sound and vibration, both groups responded faster than with tactile or audio alone, but the sighted babies were quicker and more accurate.

When presented with one object that makes sounds and one that vibrates, sighted babies showed a preference for sound and blind babies overwhelmingly preferred touch.

Interestingly, when blind babies were presented with objects that vibrated but did not make noise, they showed “faster and more accurate localization of tactile stimuli on the hands when their hands were crossed” than their sighted peers.

Some of the conclusions from the study were:

• Blind babies prefer to interact with touch more so than sound and are better at identifying objects by touch than sighted babies.
• Blind babies are more comfortable with toys on their bodies and have a well-developed understanding of their own bodies.
• Blind babies struggle with understanding how the world around them is oriented and struggle with spatial awareness.
• This difficulty may also affect how blind infants interact with other people or how they develop socially.

These differences are noticeable in baby development. Blind babies, for example, often won’t reach out for a toy that is making sounds until they are 12 months old, while sighted babies reach for sound-making toys around 5-6 months old.

Focusing on multisensory play, combining sounds and touch, and playing with toys close to your baby’s body then pulling them away to encourage reaching and exploring can help your baby develop better spacial awareness. According to researchers, “Such approaches may help visually impaired infants make better use of auditory and multisensory space to help them link the tactile world of the body to the outside world of objects and people.”

5 Toys To Encourage Development of Sensory Integration and Spatial Awareness in Blind Babies

1. Wrist Rattles and Foot Finders

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These wrist rattles and foot finders are fun tactile toys designed to be placed directly on your baby’s body to encourage body exploration and movement, including crossing midline.

The wrist rattles are attached with velcro, and the foot finders are basically socks with silly toys attached to the toes! Each toy makes sounds when they shake, so your baby can also learn that they can create noises when they move their hands or feet. This not only encourages body awareness but also introduces the concept of cause and effect while also teaching your baby that they can manipulate their environment.

Once your baby is comfortable reaching for the toys while they are attached to their body, try taking the toys off and holding them a few inches away from your baby’s body. Encourage reaching and moving a bit outside their comfort zone!

2. Toys With Multiple Textures

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Exploring toys with multiple textures can help blind infants discriminate between objects. Help your baby touch different tactile sensations and find out which they prefer. This Multi-Sensory Taco from Melissa & Doug is a great early toy because it includes differing textures, a crinkle sound in some of the pieces, and allows your baby to place objects in or take them out of the taco shell.

Sensory mats are another fun way to introduce new textures to your baby. Mats are great for tummy time, or you can place the mats under your baby’s feet while they are in a baby jumper. We have a set of these sensory bean bags with different textures and absolutely love the quality and durability of these touchable pieces. As your child grows, this also doubles as a fun sorting or matching game! 

3. Toys That Combine Touch and Sound

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This large Crinkle Rattle Caterpillar is a fun option that combines sounds and textures. The caterpillar is made of different textured fabrics and includes crinkle and rattle sounds while also playing music. The antenna doubles as safe teethers, which is a bonus for children who explore orally.

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If you are trying to encourage your baby to explore more freely, large Piano Mats are enticing musical toys that lay flat on the ground and are great for crawling or reaching babies. Use a glue gun to add different textures to each piano key, and you’ve got an appealing multi-sensory musical play spot!

4. Toys That Vibrate

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Toys that vibrate and make sounds are an excellent option for blind babies. This Dancing and Singing Bird is a soft plush texture and plays music while also vibrating, giving plenty of sensory feedback. Vibrating toys can also be a fun to encourage reaching or scanning as they jump and move about on their own and can get away from your baby if they don’t hold on tight.

If you prefer vibrating toys that stay in one place, this Hug and Tug Musical Bug can hang from a car seat or stroller, encouraging reaching and exploring in a safe place. The bug plays music and vibrates for 90 seconds after being pulled, making it a great cause-and-effect toy and also coaxing your baby to reach out again when the music stops.

5. Hanging Toys That Make Sound

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Simple mobiles or baby gyms are designed to motivate babies to reach and feel more comfortable exploring away from their bodies, which can be difficult for blind babies to master. Baby gyms that also include sounds, like this Wooden Hanging Activity Center, combine both reaching and sound prompts, making it perfect for visually impaired babies and toddlers.