The development of a strong vocabulary is the foundation for success in higher learning, but a blind child faces special language acquisition challenges, according to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She needs early and constant help from her parents to explore and interact with the environment so she can develop a more complete understanding of the words and concepts she will use for the rest of her life.
Alternative Path
Because of his different way of perceiving his environment, a blind child may travel a different path of language development. Not only does he lack the ability to observe objects and their integration into the environment, he also lacks access to non-verbal cues like facial expressions, gestures and body posture. While blind children generally develop syntax and grammar in the same way as sighted children, they often are slower to develop auditory memory and verbal reasoning skills, which makes it difficult for them to follow conversations when the topic changes quickly.
Exploration
All children explore with their hands and mouths, but a blind child needs more tactile interaction with her environment. If your child is visually impaired, let her poke, pat, throw, bang and even drop an object as much as possible while she is learning the name for it. This is how she makes sense of the object and its interaction with the world around it. Help her to compare the object to other objects so that she can place it in context. For example, you might show her that her sock is smaller than Daddy’s sock to help her to learn the concept of size.
Observation
Vision allows a person to observe an object in its entirety, but a blind child can only explore a small portion of an object at a time. Blind children rely on sequential observation to gain a complete understanding of an object. When you teach your child a word associated with an complex object, such as "jacket," make sure he has the chance to explore the object fully to develop a mental picture. If the object has more than one format, such as a sweater, let him explore different examples--such as a cardigan, a pullover, and sweaters of different materials--so that he can understand the broader meaning of the word. When possible, use the real object rather than a representation to avoid confusion. For example, let your child touch a real dog rather than a stuffed toy dog so that he understands "dog" is a live animal, says the American Foundation for the Blind.
Context
A sighted child can watch you crack open an egg, beat it with a fork and scramble it in a frying pan. She can observe how the egg changes with each step. It is much more difficult for a blind child to understand that the hard outer shell, the gooey interior and the scrambled egg on her plate are all in reality the same object. For this reason, blind children often have difficulty understanding the broader meaning of a word and they need help understanding an object in different contexts.
Interpersonal
Let your child touch the people speaking to him, including you, so that he can associate an internal image with each person’s name and voice. When you approach your child, identify yourself and let him touch your face for recognition before you begin to converse. Because a blind child cannot observe gestures, you must teach him by moving his hand, for example to wave, to gesture upwards or to indicate a number. Be sure to say the word that the gesture indicates as you do this.
