Spatial Concepts II

39. If the child has severe low vision, developmentof spatial concepts can be enhanced by using "little rooms", as we callthem in Scandinavian languages. These are boxes of different sizes, very smallfor a prematurely born tiny infant and larger for an infant at the age of a few months.Boxes for those children who remain at an early developmental level can be quitelarge. The infant or child needs to reach to both walls with arms and/or feet tobe able to study them using his/her body as the measure stick. This box is made ofa regular brown cardboard box. The upper flap has been removed, the side flaps arethere so that the space can be almost closed if we want to give the child the experienceof a small space.

40. By cutting a narrow slit close to the upper edgeon both sides and in the back of the box, the space gets both visual and tactileborders. Through the slits on the sides you can place heavy duty rubber bandand hang toys and other small objects from it. The wooden frame is not necessarybut is handy if you need to move the box from place to place. It also makes the boxmore sturdy.

41. The walls of the box can be decorated with differentvisual and tactile materials. Glistening papers from chocolate boxes and coffeebags, pieces of man-made fur etc. make the space an interesting place to explorewith both hands and feet.

42. The box does not need to be a clean and tidy one.This rather shabby box was made to a "little room" during a teaching sessionin Africa. The infant enjoyed it immediately and also became much more active.

43. The "little room" does not need to bespecially made cardboard box, any box of any size can be used in learning to measurespaces. Some of them can be so small that only one finger or the little fist canget into it, some of the size of the head, some large enough to sit in.

44. A play bath tub with the size of the child is anexellent toy in training spatial concepts.

45. Less concrete spaces can be experienced within somehanging toys, like this "octopus" with different visual and tactile structureof each of its legs. The big bright face of the octopus is also visible froma longer distance than most of the toys and thus functions as an orientation mark(From the toy collection of the Tambartun School in Gimse, Norway).

46. We can create very rich play situations with simplemeans. This infant is playing on a resonance board, a thin piece of plywood on atwo-inch frame. Such a thin wooden surface resonates when the child moves, thusthe child gets feedback about his/her own movements. The resonance board is decoratedwith high contrast patterns for visual orientation. For auditory play there are twoecho surfaces (From Hyvärinen L, Vision inChildren - normal and abnormal).

47. The two echo surfaces are a simple metal washingbasin and a plastic waste basket from which the child's own bubbling is reflecteddifferently. Since visually impaired children need to learn to use auditory informationbetter than sighted children, it is good to start early. For more informationsee "Vision in Children".

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