Program Components - Service Options
Home-Based Services
The home offers a natural environment where services are embedded within the child’s everyday routines. Vision strategies address the areas of development that the vision loss has impacted such as communication/language, cognition and play, fine and gross motor, social-emotional, and daily self-help skills. Adaptations of tactile, contrast, size, lighting, color, shape, listening, smell, etc. are utilized in assisting your child to maximize any remaining vision and compensate for loss of vision. Strategies are offered in support of the parent-infant relationship, activities with instruction to teach vision and compensatory skills are modeled, and resources of information are provided.
Family Service Option: Up to twice a week (60 minute sessions)
Orientation and Mobility Services
The early concepts of movement, spatial awareness and environmental sound cues will be introduced and taught by the Early Intervention Vision Specialist. These services will be offered in all the environments that are typical for you and your child such as the home, the backyard, the neighborhood playground, and other local community places that you go. As soon as your child begins to move about their environment, an Orientation and Mobility Specialist will complete a formal evaluation. The Orientation and Mobility specialist will introduce the child to pre-cane devices and/or a cane for use in independent travel and provide specialized instruction when appropriate.
Family Service Option: Up to once a month (60 minute sessions)
Toddler/Playgroups
Toddler/playgroup classes offer children ages 18 – 36 months an opportunity to learn in a group setting, to socialize and practice communication/language, and to interact with peer modeling. The classes allow children to function in a more predictable world and to generalize his/her knowledge to other environments and situations. Toddler classes provide the child with visual impairments opportunities to begin to explore and learn with other equipment and modalities that are not available in the home environment such as with a CCTV, other optical devices, electric braillers, etc. The Toddler/playgroup class also provides the parent with opportunities to play and work with their child on specific center based activities as well as networking with other parents. Parents will receive instruction on specific topics of interest to the group. Topics may cover such issues as sensory integration, emergent literacy, visual motor, etc.
Family Service Option: Once per week (75 minute sessions)
Play Dates
Play Dates provide opportunities for 2 to 3 families to get together to meet and build networks. It prepares families and children for a more formalized playgroup setting. The play dates allow the children to have opportunities to socialize, build language/communication, to generalize skills learned in similar settings and to interact with peer modeling. The play dates could be at the home of one of the families, at the park, the community pool, or other natural environments, etc.
Family Service Option: Up to quarterly (60 minute sessions)