Spatial Concepts III

48. In training of looking for things the child is firstgiven a toy with very high black-and-white contrast surfaces.

49. When the child is accustomed to play with it, itis shown to the child at longer and longer distances and the child is told to reachfor it. This way the child is trained to use an increasingly large visual sphere.

50. If we cover emotionally important objects, likethe milk bottle, and important toys with high contrast black-and-white or colourfulcovers, we can entice the the child to look at longer distances.

51. Light boxes are very useful for orientation becausethey are visible at a longer distance than regular toys. They can also be lefton to function as a "lighthouse" in the room.

52. We should remember that severely visually impairedinfants and children do not know that rooms are square. They see them as roundspaces because the shadows at the corners of the rooms are of too low contrast tobe seen. If we place light sources in the corners of the rooms, the rooms becomesquare also to the severely visually impaired infant and child.

53. Some common things like ceiling remain abstractto visually impaired children. There is too little to be seen on a regular whiteceiling and it is too far. Therefore children need the help of an adult to reachthere and to study it visually at a closer distance.

54. The surroundings of the house can be explored safelyby using a toy pushed by the child.

55. When the child has been playing around the housefor some time and knows the surroundings, you could not tell from the behaviour ofthe child that he is severely visually impaired when he runs on the lawn. Hisbehaviour in a familiar surrounding in terms of orientation and mobility looks quitenormal. This demonstrates that he has developed awareness of the spatial structuresof the home yard, that he has enough vision and visual memory to create spatial concepts.
However, if you bring this child to an unknown place, here only a few yards fromthe home yard on the other side of the hedge where there is a good path, you seea remarkable change in the child's behaviour. The child now walks slowly, lookingvery carefully on the path in front of him. The posture shows the child's uncertainty.This demonstrates how much vision there is to assess the structure of a new surrounding.

56. The visual structure of the play ground or a yardis easier to perceive if some of the big toys are painted with contrasting colours.This is particularly important in the northern areas where day light can be scantyeven in midday in October.

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