Development

Learn how to support your baby as they grow and develop through milestones, including gross motor and fine motor development as well as communication skills.

Filter by: Communication, Crawling, Fine and Gross Motor, Orientation and Mobility

little boy in a go baby go car

Orientation and Mobility

Go Baby Go Provides Mobility Inspiration!

Dr Cole Galloway from the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware is adapting motorized ride-on toys for children with mobility special needs.

Blind Square

Assistive Technology, Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Getting Around Using Assistive Technology when You’re Blind

Getting around keeps getting easier for blind travelers thanks to new assisistive technology. Find out about a new O&M iPhone app and an UltraBike!

Baby in a Merry Muscles jumper

Fine and Gross Motor

Merry Muscles: A Jumper for Big Kids!

Merry Muscles is a jumper that connects to a door frame or beam in your ceiling. What makes it special is that they carry ALL sizes, from baby up to...

girl listening

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Echolocation for Blind Children

Echolocation is the use of sounds to gain information about the environment and surrounding objects. Blind kids can learn to use echolocation to augment traditional orientation and mobility!

STACS cards

Communication

STACS: Standardized Tactile Augmentative Communication Symbols Kit

Tactile symbol systems are valuable tools that aid learners with conversations about people, places, events, and ideas.

Joe Cutter

Orientation and Mobility

Little Long Canes

This is a wonderful 18 minute video interview with Joe Cutter, renowned early childhood Orientation and Mobility instructor who pioneered the use of the cane with very young children. He...

Orientation and Mobility

UltraCane

The UltraCane is an electronic cane for visually impaired users that delivers feedback through small vibrating buttons in the handle. Its ultrasound system provides information about obstacles in front of...

Little girl with a rainbow umbrella

Communication

Looking Deeper to Find the Person Within

Lesley Potgieter writes about reaching a child who cannot speak. Our ability to communicate via speech is the way the world accepts and interprets us, but Lesley argues that we...

Ivan touching a pinecone at the park

Development

10 Hands-On Activities to Teach Concept Development

Teach your blind child about the world through direct interaction! This is called "concept development" and through hands-on learning they can learn about textures, sizes, nature... all sorts of things!

ivan touching a tree

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Adventure Walks: Helping Your Child Who is Blind Move Around Outdoors

Getting your blind child outside and moving around in the community can help them develop motor skills as well as Orientation and Mobility skills.

Picture of a steering wheel with a pole that has a wheel at the end

Orientation and Mobility, Toys

Go Wheelie: An Early Mobility Toy?

The Go Wheelie features an easy turning steering wheel and makes a fun clicking noise as children drive to their destination. It provides a fun, safe way for children to...

Lessonpix

Communication

LessonPix Online Materials: Symbols & Visuals

Large pictures can be a great way to introduce concepts to children with low vision and can really help kids who need help with communication.

2 guide dogs

Orientation and Mobility

MIRA Guide Dog Foundation

The MIRA Foundation is totally dedicated to helping disabled individuals by teaming them with dogs bred and fully trained to respond to their adaptation and rehabilitation needs.

Holding a white cane

Orientation and Mobility

Free White Cane Program

NFB believes the long white cane is a means to independence and with this in mind NFB has created a program to provide free white canes to people who are...

girl wearing AFOs

Fine and Gross Motor

Hatchbacks AFO Footwear

Hatchbacks are shoes designed specifically for children wearing AFO's, DAFO's, and orthotics. The shoes are easy to put on and easy to keep on, but most importantly they look really...

Demostration of ASL Browser

Communication, Special Needs

American Sign Language (ASL) Browser

The American Sign Language Browser allows you to choose any word starting with any letter and watch a short Quick Time video demonstration of that word being signed.

Boy walking on stairs with his cane

Orientation and Mobility

Early Explorers: A Cane Travel Program for Blind and Low Vision Children

This is a program for children age birth to 7 years old. It provides a white cane, instructional DVD, and other resources to help parents assist their children with O&M...

Walking with cane

Orientation and Mobility

Watch a Blind Baby Walking with His Cane!

Watch ten month old Alan walk around his living room with his new cane. He's totally blind, but does a wonderful job getting around obstacles!

Sami Stoner running with her dog, Chloe

Orientation and Mobility

Blind Teen Runs with Her Guide Dog

Sami Stoner, a teenager in Ohio, has always been a runner, but when she began to lose her sight due to Stargardt's disease, she thought she would have to stop...

Ivan playing with his toy

Orientation and Mobility, Visual Impairment

Helping Your Blind Baby Learn How to Reach for Objects

Susan Shier Lowry, an Orientation and Mobility specialist, writes about how you can encourage your child to reach out for objects and how reaching can help develop orientation skills needed...

3 kids walking with their canes

Orientation and Mobility

Precane vs Long Cane

Susan Lowry, Orientation and Mobility specialist, answers the question: Is my child ready for a long cane or a precane?

Ivan with his cane in his wheelchair

Orientation and Mobility

Wheelchair Orientation & Mobility

How does a blind person learn orientation and mobility skills when they are also using a wheelchair? Perkins eLearning provides a video series on Wheelchair Orientation & Mobility on the...

Ivan at the audiologist

Communication

A Visit to Audiology

We visit an audiologist to check our blind son's hearing. What will the audiologist do? What can we learn?

Ivan with his object calendar

Communication

Planning the Day with Object Calendars

Creating a plan and a tangible system of communication is the best way to help your child deal with transitions. Using an object calendar or a schedule box can ease...