Toys

[The Stanneys]

Hi all,

Our 6 month old daughter (Sarah Jane) was diagnosed with N last week.

We have been researching and had advised to us to get her toys that are high contrast and aid with tracking. She seems to love the projector on the ceiling at the moment!

My question is, which toys are the most enjoyable and will make the most of the eyesight she has for later in life. I don't want to fill the house up with toys that she's either not interested in or aren't going to benefit her in the long run.

I would appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

[John Sanders]

Hi,

The advice I've heard over the years from experts and parents is to choose high contrast toys -- as you mention -- with textured surfaces and toys which make a noise. That might be, for example, a ball with a bell inside.

Most parents find suitable high contrast toys in High Street shops or on the Internet.

In addition, the RNIB publishes a catalogue of toys and games for visually impaired children at http://www.rnib.org.uk/LIVINGWITHSIGHTL ... ytime.aspx. Many of these toys and games have not been developed specifically for visually impaired children. It's just that one or more of their design features makes them especially suitable for children who don't see so well.

John

[The Stanneys]

Thanks for the advice John, it confirms a lot of the things I've been reading it's just nice to have some confirmation and ideally examples of real world experience.

We only found out last week about my daughter but I want to do everything I can to help her make the most of the sight that she has.

JP

[ruthskippy]

Hi there sorry I missed your original message and have only logged in after a long gap. I posted a similar question over a year or 2 ago but was disapponited more parents didn't chip in with their advice (parents we really appreciate your tips )...this is all a bit scattergun and covers a bit from babies to tots, I'm pretty tired right now but I'll do my best to give you what tips I have......we have a fab vi place in newport south wales (have u got one too ?) and I received common sense advice about tracking objects and high contrast. Have a plain sheet eg white on the floor where you put the toys. Most simple toys are great and I think John mentioned about some toys on RNIB leaflet. Also using toys that use as many of the senses is a good idea. Stacking rings, blocks etc all good. If u are new parents Baby talk book by Sally ward has chapter for different ages with toy box suggestions in each chapter - aimed at normal sighted kids, I still found it useful to identify useful toys/stuff. ELC customers rank toys and that's also a good starting point - simple stacking cups with different shapes marked in them have been really versatile over several years. Our little one loves playdough - great for strengthening fingers/hands ready for mark making/writing/typing. Worth having a look at Montessori teaching methods, Early years foundation phase stuff. I like TES website and Sparklebox website for learning resources- not aimed at visually impaired but useful stuff in there all the same particulary if you have access to a printer and laminator ( I buy my own pouches and use the library laminating machine)
Often its simple things that use a lot of skills and develop good learning,we make gingerbread dough-flour dried ginger butter and golden syrup - she loves playing with it, safe to eat when raw and bake. Toys that use more of our senses are good too. I love nursery rhyme CDs & action songs (head shoulders knees and toes etc) in the car - it's amazing what they pick up - it eventually helps with their reading too (well it did for our one with great sight- hoping it does for our youngest).
Bead maze - little one wasn't interested in hers for 12 months then loved it. I & our little one loved the Fisher Price cookie shape sorter as it calls out the name of the shape too as you push it through - you can even use it with dough to cut out shapes. My daughter loved the touchy feely Usborne books too and I'm hoping in a few years time that the font in these books will be large enough and simple enough to be useful in her reading. If you have limited income you don't have to spend a lot as you can try car boot sales, ebay, swaps with other parents, school fayres etc to get things. We get lots of lovely gifts from friends and family at birthdays/christmas but frankly some things are not that great so I'm tempted to give a wish list and ask people to just contribute a few pounds towards something we really need. ELC stuff is great but Tesco/Asda/ARGOS do fab stuff too. ELC have a birthday club and if you join you can get discount vouchers.
When our little girl was diagnosed our first reaction was to spend hundreds on toys - some hits some misses. Instead I recommend going to playgroups to try all the different toys - go a few times and see what your little one likes best and consistently plays with (we bought stuff at ELC only to find that some things she didn't bother with after a few goes and others she loved). I had a chat at our library about little one's condition and asked if they could get me somne touchy feely books - they were fab- they grabbed all of them from the dozen or so branches so we could try them out.
We bought spyglasses from ELC for both our kids and Dora the explorer doll as she uses one - simply to make them used to using them ...alothough to be nonest I think there is an iphone app to do this so technology is moving on leaps and bounds. My daughter also loved her light projector cot toy (Baby bear sweet dreams) but most other toys are what you would buy any child - what makes the difference too is the close and focussed parenting which, by the very tone of your note I know you are giving. My little girl is 2 &8 months. she loves mark making with crayola washable chunky felt pens. My 6 year old has excellent sight and we put up lots of pictures and learning stuff on the walls but we are mindful that our youngest may not see those ....so ...On our kitchen table I have lots of laminated sheets of pictures, letters, numbers etc that I change around, I put a clear plastic table cloth on the top (bought from dunelm by the metre) and we have lovely "chats" and point at things.. it's a way of getting incidental learning around meal times. We alsways have simple books in her change bag while we are out & about. Developing a sense of self confidence and self worth is hugely important so we make sure we have lots of trips out , try different things until she finds something she adores (swimming in our case), meet with other little ones etc. My little one also goes to private nusery as I have to work part time - that's been enormously useful too in developing her socially too.Keeping busy, having good friends and family around is also important in so many ways. Have fun they grow up so quickly

[Bliss]

Thanks for taking time to help!!!!