A Blue Rose
Having four visiting family members, my wife was very busy, so I offered to go to the store for her to get some needed items, So off I went.
I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies and headed for the checkout counter, only to be blocked in the narrow aisle by a young man who appeared to be about sixteen-years-old. I wasn't in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there. This was when he waved his hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm over here."
It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged and also startled as he turned and saw me standing so close to him, waiting to squeeze by. His eyes widened and surprise exploded on his face as I said, "Hey Buddy, what's your name?"
"My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother," he responded proudly.
"Wow," I said, "that's a cool name; I wish my name was Denny, but my name is Steve."
"Steve, like Stevarino?" he asked. "Yes," I answered. "How old are you Denny?"
"How old am I now, Mommy?" he asked his mother as she slowly came over from the next aisle.
"You're fifteen-years-old Denny; now be a good boy and let the man pass by."
I acknowledged her and continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes about summer, bicycles and school. I watched his brown eyes dance with excitement, because he was the centre of someone's attention. He then abruptly turned and headed toward the toy section.
Denny's mom had a puzzled look on her face and thanked me for taking the time to talk with her son. She told me that most people wouldn't even look at him, much less talk to him.
I told her that it was my pleasure and then I said something I have no idea where it came from, other than by the prompting of God. I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow, and pink roses in God's Garden; however, "Blue Roses" are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness. You see, Denny is a Blue Rose and if someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that rose with their kindness, then they've missed a blessing from God.
She was silent for a second, then with a tear in her eye she asked, "Who are you?"
Without thinking I said, "Oh, I'm probably just a dandelion, but I sure love living in God's garden."
She reached out, squeezed my hand and said, "God bless you!" and then I had tears in my eyes.
May I suggest, the next time you see a BLUE ROSE, whichever differences that person may have, don't turn your head and walk off. Take the time to smile and say Hello. Why? Because, by the grace of GOD, this mother or father could be you. This could be your child, grandchild, niece, nephew or any other family member.What a difference a moment can mean to that person or their family.
From an old dandelion! Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.Leave the rest to the powers that be.
"People will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel !"
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
we all must fight for this noble cause
After years of fighting abuses against children on a country-by-country basis, Disability Rights International has gathered much evidence that the institutionalization of children with disabilities is a worldwide problem. Over the past 18 years we have documented abuses against children in over 25 countries in the Americas, the United States, Eastern Europe and Russia, the Middle East and Asia. The dangers of institutionalizing children are pervasive and take place all over the world, including well-resourced, developed countries. Disability Rights International is calling for an end to the institutionalization and abuse of children.
The goal of the Worldwide Campaign to End the Institutionalization of Children, is to challenge underlying policies that lead to abuses against children on a global scale. One of the main drivers of institutionalization – particularly in developing countries – is the use of misdirected foreign assistance funding to build new institutions or rebuild old crumbling facilities, instead of providing assistance and access to services for families who want to keep their children at home. Disability Rights International will document the role of international funders in perpetuating the segregation of children with disabilities.
Locked away and forgotten
Children with disabilities around the world are locked away in institutions and forgotten – many from birth. We have seen children left permanently tied into cribs and beds where many die. Some die from intentional lack of medical care as their lives are not deemed worthy. Some die from lack of touch and love. Most in these conditions never make it to adolescence. And those who do are condemned to a lifetime inside the walls of an institution just for having a disability. Children with disabilities are rarely eligible for foster care in countries where it is available and parents who do want to keep their children with a disability almost never receive any help or support. And governments and international donors spend millions worldwide building and rebuilding these torture chambers for children with disabilities instead of supporting families, substitute families when necessary and community services and education.
Child in restraint chair at the Judge Rotenberg Center in the US
A teenager in Romania, muscles atrophied from a lifetime in a crib
A teenager with austism, Jorge, locked in a filthy cell in Paraguay
Findings by Disability Rights International on conditions of institutionalized children includes:
– In Mexico, there is almost no official oversight of children in private institutions, and children have literally “disappeared” from public record. Preliminary evidence suggests that children with disabilities have been “trafficked” into forced labor or sex slavery;
– In the United States, children with autism and other mental disabilities living at a residential school in Massachusetts are being given electric shocks as a form of “behavior modification”;
– We have found children with autism in Paraguay and Uruguay locked in cages;
– In Turkey, children as young as 9 years old were being given electro-shock treatments without anesthesia until we exposed the barbaric treatment;
– In Romania, we found teenagers with both mental and physical disabilities hidden away in an adult psychiatric institution – near death from intentional starvation. Some of the teens weighed less than 30 pounds;
– In Russia, we uncovered thousands of neglected infants and babies in the “lying down rooms,” where row after row of babies with disabilities both live and die in their cribs.
n- in pakistan there are institutions for blind and deaf children where children are locked and mentally and physically abused.
– In almost all institutions with children, we find them rocking back and forth, chewing their fingers or hands or gouging at their eyes or hitting themselves – all attempts to feel something rather than nothing and a reaction to total sensory deprivation and a lack of human love or contact;
Instead of providing children with the families or caregivers and the love they need, children in institutions are tied into cribs and chairs, tethered into strait jackets, wrapped tightly into blankets, and hands covered completely in plastic bottles, causing more pain to a child already living a horribly abused and neglected life.
The reform of international development policy is essential to our goal of ending the worldwide institutionalization of children with disabilities. We have found that the United Nations, European governments, and other international donors play a major role in perpetuating the institutionalization of children with disabilities. In developing countries, the infusion of foreign financial support can have tremendous influence on social policies and human rights. Well-meaning but misguided international donors have, unfortunately, been part of the problem in much of the world. International support has often been used to rebuild and refurbish orphanages, psychiatric facilities, and other institutions at the expense of community programs and families. This support reinforces outmoded systems of institution-based services and perpetuates discrimination and segregation of children with disabilities worldwide.
We need to establish a worldwide consensus that institutionalization of children with disabilities can and should be brought to an end. We need to fight to protect those children suffering today and to stop the next generation of children with disabilities from ever being locked away and forgotten
Please support our campaign by making a donati
The goal of the Worldwide Campaign to End the Institutionalization of Children, is to challenge underlying policies that lead to abuses against children on a global scale. One of the main drivers of institutionalization – particularly in developing countries – is the use of misdirected foreign assistance funding to build new institutions or rebuild old crumbling facilities, instead of providing assistance and access to services for families who want to keep their children at home. Disability Rights International will document the role of international funders in perpetuating the segregation of children with disabilities.
Locked away and forgotten
Children with disabilities around the world are locked away in institutions and forgotten – many from birth. We have seen children left permanently tied into cribs and beds where many die. Some die from intentional lack of medical care as their lives are not deemed worthy. Some die from lack of touch and love. Most in these conditions never make it to adolescence. And those who do are condemned to a lifetime inside the walls of an institution just for having a disability. Children with disabilities are rarely eligible for foster care in countries where it is available and parents who do want to keep their children with a disability almost never receive any help or support. And governments and international donors spend millions worldwide building and rebuilding these torture chambers for children with disabilities instead of supporting families, substitute families when necessary and community services and education.
Child in restraint chair at the Judge Rotenberg Center in the US
A teenager in Romania, muscles atrophied from a lifetime in a crib
A teenager with austism, Jorge, locked in a filthy cell in Paraguay
Findings by Disability Rights International on conditions of institutionalized children includes:
– In Mexico, there is almost no official oversight of children in private institutions, and children have literally “disappeared” from public record. Preliminary evidence suggests that children with disabilities have been “trafficked” into forced labor or sex slavery;
– In the United States, children with autism and other mental disabilities living at a residential school in Massachusetts are being given electric shocks as a form of “behavior modification”;
– We have found children with autism in Paraguay and Uruguay locked in cages;
– In Turkey, children as young as 9 years old were being given electro-shock treatments without anesthesia until we exposed the barbaric treatment;
– In Romania, we found teenagers with both mental and physical disabilities hidden away in an adult psychiatric institution – near death from intentional starvation. Some of the teens weighed less than 30 pounds;
– In Russia, we uncovered thousands of neglected infants and babies in the “lying down rooms,” where row after row of babies with disabilities both live and die in their cribs.
n- in pakistan there are institutions for blind and deaf children where children are locked and mentally and physically abused.
– In almost all institutions with children, we find them rocking back and forth, chewing their fingers or hands or gouging at their eyes or hitting themselves – all attempts to feel something rather than nothing and a reaction to total sensory deprivation and a lack of human love or contact;
Instead of providing children with the families or caregivers and the love they need, children in institutions are tied into cribs and chairs, tethered into strait jackets, wrapped tightly into blankets, and hands covered completely in plastic bottles, causing more pain to a child already living a horribly abused and neglected life.
The reform of international development policy is essential to our goal of ending the worldwide institutionalization of children with disabilities. We have found that the United Nations, European governments, and other international donors play a major role in perpetuating the institutionalization of children with disabilities. In developing countries, the infusion of foreign financial support can have tremendous influence on social policies and human rights. Well-meaning but misguided international donors have, unfortunately, been part of the problem in much of the world. International support has often been used to rebuild and refurbish orphanages, psychiatric facilities, and other institutions at the expense of community programs and families. This support reinforces outmoded systems of institution-based services and perpetuates discrimination and segregation of children with disabilities worldwide.
We need to establish a worldwide consensus that institutionalization of children with disabilities can and should be brought to an end. We need to fight to protect those children suffering today and to stop the next generation of children with disabilities from ever being locked away and forgotten
Please support our campaign by making a donati
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
why is the parents support center important
Try a little tenderness
by Mary McDonach
When you are first confronted by a diagnosis of any type of syndrome, disease, or congenital malformation in your child, a natural response is the Grief Reaction.
Because the grief reaction is a natural response, you are likely to go through at least some of the Stages of Grief. What can you do? You can either simply endure and hope that it eventually subsides or you can consider a few practical steps to process your thoughts and feelings a little quicker in order to make things a little easier... on everyone.
Just understanding what is happening by looking for the signs and markers of your grieving will help you on your journey through the stages of grief. Everyone's experience of grief is unique; there is no right or wrong way to feel, and whatever you are feeling, it is valid.
Let's go through the stages of grief one by one...
Stage #1: Disbelief
What Other Parents are Saying:
"While I was still in the hospital after Tony was born, the pediatrician told me that he was blind, but it didn't sink in. I really believed that all I had to do was to get him home and then he would be okay."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
You have an intellectual understanding of what you are being told but you also believe that someone has made a "Terrible Mistake" (in just this one case) and what is being said does not apply to you or your baby. Often, the paradox here is that you asked for this consultation; you felt at some fundamental maternal level that there was a problem with your child's sight!
This is not just a matter of believing the doctor; it is also about being able to feel at a visceral level that the information you are being given is correct. It can be helpful to consider where the doctor is in this situation—He does not want to be giving you this diagnosis any more than you want to be listening to it and he will have made triple sure of his facts before putting himself in a situation that makes him seem like the cause of your pain.
Health professionals do not lightly give distressing information (although they may often seem cold or uncaring—this is quite possibly their own poorly thought out emotional response to the situation). They are well aware of the grief process, and the long-term consequences of living with and raising a blind baby. And, yes, very occassionaly mistakes may happen, but you can be sure your doctor will have done all in his power to ensure the information he is presenting to you is accurate.
Your doctor will know that often, in the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis, you are unable to process any other information. I know from personal experience that after the initial few sentences from the pediatrician, all I could hear was a voice in my brain saying "She's got what?" repeatedly. It is difficult to assimilate more than the very basics at that first consultation and it happens to almost everyone. That's why the first contact with the physician is brief; it gives you an opportunity to go away, speak to your significant others, come, at least, to a first position of truce with the information you have been given, and sort through the questions you would have asked at the first consultation had you not been so traumatized.
During this stage, you may find that your emotional responses to things that would have made you cry, laugh, etc. are all more muted. You may feel a withdrawal from the world you usually inhabit and an inability to articulate how you feel. This can put a strain on your relationships, and if you have decided not to confide in anyone about the diagnosis you have been given they may feel confused, offended, or concerned about your apparently sudden personality change.
It is easy to see how logical, at this stage, it can be to simply ignore the issues surrounding your child's blindness: if you are not addressing things then they can't be happening because if they were happening you would be addressing things! There is a comfort in reassuring, circular logic, and it may work to relieve the pressure you feel, for a time, but for the sake of your child, the shorter the denial reaction the better.
Whilst all this is going on, though, your subconscious cannot ignore the feelings you are suppressing and tries to reach its own accommodation with things, so your sleep can be disturbed and provide little rest, which has further impact on how you feel during the day.
Stage #2: Anger
What Other Parents are Saying:
"At first I was very angry and bitter, and I blamed God. I have since learned to adjust to my son's disabilities. Never will I accept them, but I will continually adjust."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Anger is the next stage in the grief process and you may surprise yourself with your willingness to assign blame for your child's condition! Blaming yourself, your partner, your prenatal care, your post natal care, your housing conditions, your mother's "little drink problem," that spray you used on the cat, all allows you to indulge in a search for a reason that has little to do with informing yourself about your child's condition and lots to do with an atavistic need for a scapegoat.
The "why me" question can exhaust you looking for answers and more often than not the only answer you are ever likely to get is "why not you?" "Why did God forsake me?" you may ask, but God did not forsake you—you had a baby with special needs!
Does it really matter how your baby came by the condition? Will it help if you finally track down every last member of your husbands' family in order to prove to him that it must have "come from his side?"
Will your baby be blind regardless of How's and Why's? The distraction of the anger phase can give you useful time and motivation that you need to let others know what's happening with your child.
If you feel you have to say to your family or your neighbors or the postman "My baby is blind because my nogoodnik husband has a genetic weakness" then fine. When you remember saying that next year you may be embarrassed, but at least today the information is out there and you are starting to deal with it—after a fashion!
Blaming yourself can be the beginning of a lifelong relationship with guilt. This will not enhance your relationship with your child or with the rest of your family, so work through your feelings about blame with a view to getting rid of them. They will not help and in the long term these feelings will be damaging—to everyone—if they are left unchallenged.
Stage #3: Bargaining
What Other Parents are Saying:
"I know Jason has delays—I just keep expecting them to go away. I wonder what I have done wrong that he still has these delays."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
This is the fanciful part of grieving! You may not be sure who you are bargaining with but very often as parents we come to a position I think of as "negotiating with the cosmos." Are any of these statements familiar to you?:
• We are hoping that she's not so badly affected (by whatever).
• The doctors say it is a very mild case.
• Scientists are searching for a cure; they are very hopeful.
• He's affected to this degree; we couldn't have coped if it had been worse.
This can bring a subtle skewing of your ability to see the facts as they are. If you entrench yourself in the position that you can cope with, say, blindness but not blindness and deafness, are you truly open to seeing your child for who she is? Negotiating with an apparently silent deity or universe is a facet of bargaining that can leave you with a profound feeling of isolation, but being aware of what you are experiencing and knowing that it is finite often helps.
Bargaining can often, too, lead to a false perception of acceptance. One mother I know had found a way to protect her child with albinism: by not taking him out during daylight hours. Certainly, by treating her son, not as having albinism, but, more disturbingly to my mind, as though he had vampirism, she had come to a bargained accommodation with the facts. He could not be burned by the sun if he was never exposed to it and that was the current amount that this mother was able to accept. It is readily apparent though, that this was not a situation that could go unchallenged indefinitely, for anyone's sake.
Stage #4: Depression
What Other Parents are Saying:
"After a few tries of going to the store or to church, I just stopped. I couldn't stand how people looked at my baby (or at me)."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Depression also can make an appearance whilst you are coming to terms with your grief. You will be aware that there is far more to dealing well with depression than I can write about here. So if you are currently suffering from the effects of depressive illness GET MEDICAL HELP! That you should deal with it is absolutely paramount.
You may feel that there is no reason for you to be depressed, you had a child; no-one died. It is reasonable to say, however, that you are grieving for the child you expected to have; no parent starts out thinking "I hope my child will be blind." That would be ludicrous, so when your child is diagnosed as blind (and everyone hopes fervently for another outcome) there is a kind of bereavement.
You have every right to grieve: for your hopes, for the trauma you have been through, and for your child and the limitations this condition gives him.
There is an unexpected positive to be seen in depression, paradoxically, because this is the immediate forerunner of acceptance and means that you have accepted the facts of your child's condition, at least to some extent (or why else would you be depressed?).
Stage #5: Acceptance
What Other Parents are Saying:
"From my child, I have learned to love unconditionally. My life has been opened up to include experiences I never would have considered."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
This will come. You will accept a new reality for yourself and your family. You will come to visualize a viable new way forward, embracing the new reality and accepting the burden of the work that lies ahead.
For my part, I spent a short time in a mini-phase of Trying it on for Size, also known as Inappropriate Disclosure. I have a vivid recollection of telling the manager of my local Gecko! Shop that I would be unable to buy one of his fine animals because my baby had been born blind!!!
Neither then nor now have I ever had any desire to own a reptile so exactly what I was thinking escapes me (not to mention the fact that I'm sure a blind child could handle a lizard just as well as a sighted one), but I will give myself credit for imaginative thinking when it comes down to identifying those people who comprise my community!
Moving Forward for Yourself & Your Family
What Other Parents are Saying:
"I don't think my husband and I have been on the same wavelength since our daughter was born. It seems like one of us is always up, while the other is down. Sometimes I think he's being unrealistically optimistic, and sometimes he thinks the same of me."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Not everyone goes through the grieving process, and not everyone who does go through it goes through it in the order I have described nor even always has each part of the process. It is an entirely individual experience and is as valid in its differences as it is in its similarities.
This can be particularly difficult for married couples who find themselves on opposite ends of the grieving process. The incidence of divorce in families with disabled children is exceptionally high, partly due to the obvious stressors and pressures of having a disabled child, but also partly because both parents may be experiencing the grieving process in unique and individual ways and unable to offer each other the love and support they need. Dealing with the grieving process head on will not only benefit yourself and you child, but also your marriage!
The reason for this article's title is to help you look at where you are in the process and how you are behaving towards yourself. Get a coffee in a quiet moment and think—When did you last show yourself any tenderness, any charity? Try to be more gentle with yourself; there is no "blinding catharsis," but acceptance will come. Just when you least expect it, you'll get what you least expect!
by Mary McDonach
When you are first confronted by a diagnosis of any type of syndrome, disease, or congenital malformation in your child, a natural response is the Grief Reaction.
Because the grief reaction is a natural response, you are likely to go through at least some of the Stages of Grief. What can you do? You can either simply endure and hope that it eventually subsides or you can consider a few practical steps to process your thoughts and feelings a little quicker in order to make things a little easier... on everyone.
Just understanding what is happening by looking for the signs and markers of your grieving will help you on your journey through the stages of grief. Everyone's experience of grief is unique; there is no right or wrong way to feel, and whatever you are feeling, it is valid.
Let's go through the stages of grief one by one...
Stage #1: Disbelief
What Other Parents are Saying:
"While I was still in the hospital after Tony was born, the pediatrician told me that he was blind, but it didn't sink in. I really believed that all I had to do was to get him home and then he would be okay."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
You have an intellectual understanding of what you are being told but you also believe that someone has made a "Terrible Mistake" (in just this one case) and what is being said does not apply to you or your baby. Often, the paradox here is that you asked for this consultation; you felt at some fundamental maternal level that there was a problem with your child's sight!
This is not just a matter of believing the doctor; it is also about being able to feel at a visceral level that the information you are being given is correct. It can be helpful to consider where the doctor is in this situation—He does not want to be giving you this diagnosis any more than you want to be listening to it and he will have made triple sure of his facts before putting himself in a situation that makes him seem like the cause of your pain.
Health professionals do not lightly give distressing information (although they may often seem cold or uncaring—this is quite possibly their own poorly thought out emotional response to the situation). They are well aware of the grief process, and the long-term consequences of living with and raising a blind baby. And, yes, very occassionaly mistakes may happen, but you can be sure your doctor will have done all in his power to ensure the information he is presenting to you is accurate.
Your doctor will know that often, in the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis, you are unable to process any other information. I know from personal experience that after the initial few sentences from the pediatrician, all I could hear was a voice in my brain saying "She's got what?" repeatedly. It is difficult to assimilate more than the very basics at that first consultation and it happens to almost everyone. That's why the first contact with the physician is brief; it gives you an opportunity to go away, speak to your significant others, come, at least, to a first position of truce with the information you have been given, and sort through the questions you would have asked at the first consultation had you not been so traumatized.
During this stage, you may find that your emotional responses to things that would have made you cry, laugh, etc. are all more muted. You may feel a withdrawal from the world you usually inhabit and an inability to articulate how you feel. This can put a strain on your relationships, and if you have decided not to confide in anyone about the diagnosis you have been given they may feel confused, offended, or concerned about your apparently sudden personality change.
It is easy to see how logical, at this stage, it can be to simply ignore the issues surrounding your child's blindness: if you are not addressing things then they can't be happening because if they were happening you would be addressing things! There is a comfort in reassuring, circular logic, and it may work to relieve the pressure you feel, for a time, but for the sake of your child, the shorter the denial reaction the better.
Whilst all this is going on, though, your subconscious cannot ignore the feelings you are suppressing and tries to reach its own accommodation with things, so your sleep can be disturbed and provide little rest, which has further impact on how you feel during the day.
Stage #2: Anger
What Other Parents are Saying:
"At first I was very angry and bitter, and I blamed God. I have since learned to adjust to my son's disabilities. Never will I accept them, but I will continually adjust."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Anger is the next stage in the grief process and you may surprise yourself with your willingness to assign blame for your child's condition! Blaming yourself, your partner, your prenatal care, your post natal care, your housing conditions, your mother's "little drink problem," that spray you used on the cat, all allows you to indulge in a search for a reason that has little to do with informing yourself about your child's condition and lots to do with an atavistic need for a scapegoat.
The "why me" question can exhaust you looking for answers and more often than not the only answer you are ever likely to get is "why not you?" "Why did God forsake me?" you may ask, but God did not forsake you—you had a baby with special needs!
Does it really matter how your baby came by the condition? Will it help if you finally track down every last member of your husbands' family in order to prove to him that it must have "come from his side?"
Will your baby be blind regardless of How's and Why's? The distraction of the anger phase can give you useful time and motivation that you need to let others know what's happening with your child.
If you feel you have to say to your family or your neighbors or the postman "My baby is blind because my nogoodnik husband has a genetic weakness" then fine. When you remember saying that next year you may be embarrassed, but at least today the information is out there and you are starting to deal with it—after a fashion!
Blaming yourself can be the beginning of a lifelong relationship with guilt. This will not enhance your relationship with your child or with the rest of your family, so work through your feelings about blame with a view to getting rid of them. They will not help and in the long term these feelings will be damaging—to everyone—if they are left unchallenged.
Stage #3: Bargaining
What Other Parents are Saying:
"I know Jason has delays—I just keep expecting them to go away. I wonder what I have done wrong that he still has these delays."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
This is the fanciful part of grieving! You may not be sure who you are bargaining with but very often as parents we come to a position I think of as "negotiating with the cosmos." Are any of these statements familiar to you?:
• We are hoping that she's not so badly affected (by whatever).
• The doctors say it is a very mild case.
• Scientists are searching for a cure; they are very hopeful.
• He's affected to this degree; we couldn't have coped if it had been worse.
This can bring a subtle skewing of your ability to see the facts as they are. If you entrench yourself in the position that you can cope with, say, blindness but not blindness and deafness, are you truly open to seeing your child for who she is? Negotiating with an apparently silent deity or universe is a facet of bargaining that can leave you with a profound feeling of isolation, but being aware of what you are experiencing and knowing that it is finite often helps.
Bargaining can often, too, lead to a false perception of acceptance. One mother I know had found a way to protect her child with albinism: by not taking him out during daylight hours. Certainly, by treating her son, not as having albinism, but, more disturbingly to my mind, as though he had vampirism, she had come to a bargained accommodation with the facts. He could not be burned by the sun if he was never exposed to it and that was the current amount that this mother was able to accept. It is readily apparent though, that this was not a situation that could go unchallenged indefinitely, for anyone's sake.
Stage #4: Depression
What Other Parents are Saying:
"After a few tries of going to the store or to church, I just stopped. I couldn't stand how people looked at my baby (or at me)."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Depression also can make an appearance whilst you are coming to terms with your grief. You will be aware that there is far more to dealing well with depression than I can write about here. So if you are currently suffering from the effects of depressive illness GET MEDICAL HELP! That you should deal with it is absolutely paramount.
You may feel that there is no reason for you to be depressed, you had a child; no-one died. It is reasonable to say, however, that you are grieving for the child you expected to have; no parent starts out thinking "I hope my child will be blind." That would be ludicrous, so when your child is diagnosed as blind (and everyone hopes fervently for another outcome) there is a kind of bereavement.
You have every right to grieve: for your hopes, for the trauma you have been through, and for your child and the limitations this condition gives him.
There is an unexpected positive to be seen in depression, paradoxically, because this is the immediate forerunner of acceptance and means that you have accepted the facts of your child's condition, at least to some extent (or why else would you be depressed?).
Stage #5: Acceptance
What Other Parents are Saying:
"From my child, I have learned to love unconditionally. My life has been opened up to include experiences I never would have considered."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
This will come. You will accept a new reality for yourself and your family. You will come to visualize a viable new way forward, embracing the new reality and accepting the burden of the work that lies ahead.
For my part, I spent a short time in a mini-phase of Trying it on for Size, also known as Inappropriate Disclosure. I have a vivid recollection of telling the manager of my local Gecko! Shop that I would be unable to buy one of his fine animals because my baby had been born blind!!!
Neither then nor now have I ever had any desire to own a reptile so exactly what I was thinking escapes me (not to mention the fact that I'm sure a blind child could handle a lizard just as well as a sighted one), but I will give myself credit for imaginative thinking when it comes down to identifying those people who comprise my community!
Moving Forward for Yourself & Your Family
What Other Parents are Saying:
"I don't think my husband and I have been on the same wavelength since our daughter was born. It seems like one of us is always up, while the other is down. Sometimes I think he's being unrealistically optimistic, and sometimes he thinks the same of me."
-From Children with Visual Impairments
Not everyone goes through the grieving process, and not everyone who does go through it goes through it in the order I have described nor even always has each part of the process. It is an entirely individual experience and is as valid in its differences as it is in its similarities.
This can be particularly difficult for married couples who find themselves on opposite ends of the grieving process. The incidence of divorce in families with disabled children is exceptionally high, partly due to the obvious stressors and pressures of having a disabled child, but also partly because both parents may be experiencing the grieving process in unique and individual ways and unable to offer each other the love and support they need. Dealing with the grieving process head on will not only benefit yourself and you child, but also your marriage!
The reason for this article's title is to help you look at where you are in the process and how you are behaving towards yourself. Get a coffee in a quiet moment and think—When did you last show yourself any tenderness, any charity? Try to be more gentle with yourself; there is no "blinding catharsis," but acceptance will come. Just when you least expect it, you'll get what you least expect!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
our eyes aa re blessing
Childrens’ eye health
Healthy eyes and vision are a critical part of kids' development. Their eyes should be examined regularly, as many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and treated early.
Eye Doctors
Be sure to make vision care and eye checks a part of your child's routine medical care.
Different kinds of doctors offer eye care, and the names can be confusing:
Ophthalmologists are medical doctors (have gone to medical school) who provide comprehensive eye care with medicine and surgery.
Pediatric ophthalmologists have additional special training to treat kids' eye problems.
Optometrists provide services that may be similar to ophthalmologists, but they don't perform surgery. Some optometrists specialize in kids' eye problems.
Opticians fit and adjust eyeglasses.
Eye Exams
Routine medical exams for kids' vision include:
Newborns should be checked for general eye health by a pediatrician or family physician in the hospital nursery.
High-risk newborns (including premature infants), those with a family history of eye problems, and those with obvious eye irregularities should be examined by an eye doctor.
In the first year of life, all infants should be routinely screened for eye health during checkups with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 3½, kids should undergo eye health screenings and visual acuity tests (or tests that measure sharpness of vision) with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 5, kids should have their vision and eye alignment evaluated by their doctors. Those who fail either test should be examined by their pediatrician or family doctor.
After age 5, further routine screenings should be done at school or the doctor's office, or after the appearance of symptoms such as squinting or frequent headaches. (Many times, a teacher will realize the child isn't seeing well in class.)
Kids who wear prescription glasses or contacts should have annual checkups by an eye doctor to screen for vision changes.
Spotting Eye Problems
Signs that a child may have vision problems include:
constant eye rubbing
extreme light sensitivity
poor focusing
poor visual tracking (following an object)
abnormal alignment or movement of the eyes (after 6 months of age)
chronic redness of the eyes
chronic tearing of the eyes
a white pupil instead of black
In school-age children, watch for other signs such as:
inability to see objects at a distance
inability to read the blackboard
squinting
difficulty reading
sitting too close to the TV
Watch your child for evidence of poor vision or crossed eyes. If you notice any eye problems, have your child examined immediately so that the problem doesn't become permanent.
If caught early, eye conditions often can be reversed.
Common Eye Problems
Several eye conditions can affect kids. Most are detected by a vision screening using an acuity chart during the preschool years.
Amblyopia ("lazy eye") is poor vision in an eye that may appear to be normal. Two common causes are crossed eyes and a difference in the refractive error between the two eyes. If untreated, amblyopia can cause irreversible visual loss in the affected eye. (By then, the brain's "programming" will ignore signals from that eye.) Amblyopia is best treated during the preschool years.
Strabismus is a misalignment of the eyes; they may turn in, out, up, or down. If the same eye is chronically misaligned, amblyopia may also develop in that eye. With early detection, vision can be restored by patching the properly aligned eye, which forces the misaligned one to work. Surgery or specially designed glasses also may help the eyes to align.
Refractive errors mean that the shape of the eye doesn't refract, or bend, light properly, so images appear blurred. Refractive errors also can cause amblyopia. Nearsightedness is the most common refractive error in school-age children; others include farsightedness and astigmatism:
o Nearsightedness is poor distance vision (also called myopia), which is usually treated with glasses or contacts.
o Farsightedness is poor near vision (also called hyperopia), which is usually treated with glasses or contacts.
o Astigmatism is imperfect curvature of the front surface of the eye, which is usually treated with glasses if it causes blurred vision or discomfort.
Other eye conditions require immediate attention, such as retinopathy of prematurity (a disease that affects the eyes of premature babies) and those associated with a family history, including:
Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor that usually appears in the first 3 years of life. The affected eye or eyes may have visual loss and whiteness in the pupil.
Infantile cataracts can occur in newborns. A cataract is a clouding of the eye's lens.
Congenital glaucoma in infants is a rare condition that may be inherited. It is the result of incorrect or incomplete development of the eye drainage canals before birth and can be treated with medication and surgery.
Genetic or metabolic diseases of the eye, such as inherited disorders that make a child more likely to develop retinoblastoma or cataracts, may require kids to have eye exams at an early age and regular screenings.
Be sure to talk to your doctor if your child is at risk for any of these conditions.
Glasses and Contacts
Kids of all ages — even babies — can wear glasses and contacts.
Keep these tips in mind for kids who wear glasses:
Allow kids to pick their own frames.
Plastic frames are best for children younger than 2.
If older kids wear metal frames, make sure they have spring hinges, which are more durable.
An elastic strap attached to the glasses will help keep them in place for active toddlers.
Kids with severe eye problems may need special lenses called high-index lenses, which are thinner and lighter than plastic lenses.
Polycarbonate lenses are recommended for all kids, especially for kids who play sports. Polycarbonate is a tough, shatter-proof, transparent thermoplastic used to make thin, light lenses. However, although they're very impact-resistant, these lenses scratch more easily than plastic lenses.
Infants born with congenital cataracts may need to have their cataracts surgically removed during the first few weeks of life. Some children born with cataracts wear contact lenses after cataract surgery.
Around age 10, kids may express a desire to get contact lenses for cosmetic reasons or convenience if they play sports. Allowing a child to wear contacts depends on his or her ability to insert and remove lenses properly, faithfully take them out as required, and clean them as recommended by the doctor. Contact lens problems are almost always caused by poor habits and bad hygiene.
Your eye doctor can help you decide what type of vision correction is best for your child.
Reviewed by: Jonathan H. Salvin, MD
Date reviewed: January 2011
Healthy eyes and vision are a critical part of kids' development. Their eyes should be examined regularly, as many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and treated early.
Eye Doctors
Be sure to make vision care and eye checks a part of your child's routine medical care.
Different kinds of doctors offer eye care, and the names can be confusing:
Ophthalmologists are medical doctors (have gone to medical school) who provide comprehensive eye care with medicine and surgery.
Pediatric ophthalmologists have additional special training to treat kids' eye problems.
Optometrists provide services that may be similar to ophthalmologists, but they don't perform surgery. Some optometrists specialize in kids' eye problems.
Opticians fit and adjust eyeglasses.
Eye Exams
Routine medical exams for kids' vision include:
Newborns should be checked for general eye health by a pediatrician or family physician in the hospital nursery.
High-risk newborns (including premature infants), those with a family history of eye problems, and those with obvious eye irregularities should be examined by an eye doctor.
In the first year of life, all infants should be routinely screened for eye health during checkups with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 3½, kids should undergo eye health screenings and visual acuity tests (or tests that measure sharpness of vision) with their pediatrician or family doctor.
Around age 5, kids should have their vision and eye alignment evaluated by their doctors. Those who fail either test should be examined by their pediatrician or family doctor.
After age 5, further routine screenings should be done at school or the doctor's office, or after the appearance of symptoms such as squinting or frequent headaches. (Many times, a teacher will realize the child isn't seeing well in class.)
Kids who wear prescription glasses or contacts should have annual checkups by an eye doctor to screen for vision changes.
Spotting Eye Problems
Signs that a child may have vision problems include:
constant eye rubbing
extreme light sensitivity
poor focusing
poor visual tracking (following an object)
abnormal alignment or movement of the eyes (after 6 months of age)
chronic redness of the eyes
chronic tearing of the eyes
a white pupil instead of black
In school-age children, watch for other signs such as:
inability to see objects at a distance
inability to read the blackboard
squinting
difficulty reading
sitting too close to the TV
Watch your child for evidence of poor vision or crossed eyes. If you notice any eye problems, have your child examined immediately so that the problem doesn't become permanent.
If caught early, eye conditions often can be reversed.
Common Eye Problems
Several eye conditions can affect kids. Most are detected by a vision screening using an acuity chart during the preschool years.
Amblyopia ("lazy eye") is poor vision in an eye that may appear to be normal. Two common causes are crossed eyes and a difference in the refractive error between the two eyes. If untreated, amblyopia can cause irreversible visual loss in the affected eye. (By then, the brain's "programming" will ignore signals from that eye.) Amblyopia is best treated during the preschool years.
Strabismus is a misalignment of the eyes; they may turn in, out, up, or down. If the same eye is chronically misaligned, amblyopia may also develop in that eye. With early detection, vision can be restored by patching the properly aligned eye, which forces the misaligned one to work. Surgery or specially designed glasses also may help the eyes to align.
Refractive errors mean that the shape of the eye doesn't refract, or bend, light properly, so images appear blurred. Refractive errors also can cause amblyopia. Nearsightedness is the most common refractive error in school-age children; others include farsightedness and astigmatism:
o Nearsightedness is poor distance vision (also called myopia), which is usually treated with glasses or contacts.
o Farsightedness is poor near vision (also called hyperopia), which is usually treated with glasses or contacts.
o Astigmatism is imperfect curvature of the front surface of the eye, which is usually treated with glasses if it causes blurred vision or discomfort.
Other eye conditions require immediate attention, such as retinopathy of prematurity (a disease that affects the eyes of premature babies) and those associated with a family history, including:
Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor that usually appears in the first 3 years of life. The affected eye or eyes may have visual loss and whiteness in the pupil.
Infantile cataracts can occur in newborns. A cataract is a clouding of the eye's lens.
Congenital glaucoma in infants is a rare condition that may be inherited. It is the result of incorrect or incomplete development of the eye drainage canals before birth and can be treated with medication and surgery.
Genetic or metabolic diseases of the eye, such as inherited disorders that make a child more likely to develop retinoblastoma or cataracts, may require kids to have eye exams at an early age and regular screenings.
Be sure to talk to your doctor if your child is at risk for any of these conditions.
Glasses and Contacts
Kids of all ages — even babies — can wear glasses and contacts.
Keep these tips in mind for kids who wear glasses:
Allow kids to pick their own frames.
Plastic frames are best for children younger than 2.
If older kids wear metal frames, make sure they have spring hinges, which are more durable.
An elastic strap attached to the glasses will help keep them in place for active toddlers.
Kids with severe eye problems may need special lenses called high-index lenses, which are thinner and lighter than plastic lenses.
Polycarbonate lenses are recommended for all kids, especially for kids who play sports. Polycarbonate is a tough, shatter-proof, transparent thermoplastic used to make thin, light lenses. However, although they're very impact-resistant, these lenses scratch more easily than plastic lenses.
Infants born with congenital cataracts may need to have their cataracts surgically removed during the first few weeks of life. Some children born with cataracts wear contact lenses after cataract surgery.
Around age 10, kids may express a desire to get contact lenses for cosmetic reasons or convenience if they play sports. Allowing a child to wear contacts depends on his or her ability to insert and remove lenses properly, faithfully take them out as required, and clean them as recommended by the doctor. Contact lens problems are almost always caused by poor habits and bad hygiene.
Your eye doctor can help you decide what type of vision correction is best for your child.
Reviewed by: Jonathan H. Salvin, MD
Date reviewed: January 2011
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
visually impaired babies
Let us imagine what it is to be like a nine-month old baby who is blind. As the baby lies on it's tummy they are aware of many sensations. The baby can feel the floor moving beneath as a person walks past and vibrations through their hands, knees, tummy and head. They feel the gust of air from movements and when a door is opened or closed.
The baby hears sounds, some soft, some loud. While some sounds come from the same place others move and become louder or softer.
Smells are different and can remind the baby of people, food or different things like clothing and toys.
Tastes are different too. A toy is put into their hand, they chew it. As they place their face into the carpet they taste it. As a child explores, food, hands and objects all taste differently.
When they feel objects some things are hard and soft. Like the leg of a chair some are furry, others smooth, warm, cold or rough.
They are aware of movement by themselves and by others, sometimes suddenly. If another toddler stumbles over them, if a noisy toy is put into their hands or if they are lifted too quickly, this can be scary.
Gradually things will begin to make sense. When a baby hears a mother's voice, they are reassured. However, when they hear a different voice, they do not know what will happen. Some people will feel familiar and safe, while others are strange. They begin to learn when placed in a high chair, food is not far away. When they hear water running, smell the familiar smells of the bathroom and hear the word "bath" they know what is to come.
So even without sight, they are learning to anticipate what will happen next and now feel secure in certain situations. They will be able to connect words and sounds with actions and objects. However while they are receiving all these sensations, they are still unaware of much around them. There may be toys near by, but if they don't touch them they may never know where they are. A baby may be unaware that they are lying near table legs, that they are facing a certain direction or that their dummy, which they want desperately, is just out of reach.
In order to help the baby make sense of their surroundings, we must encourage sensory exploration to help them learn. We must give them meaning and the opportunity to find out about those things of which they are unaware.
The first step security
The world of a baby who is blind can be confusing, but we can help them feel secure in a number of ways by giving cues or warnings that something is about to happen. Before picking a baby up, we might gently grasp their hands and say "up you come", to prepare them. Touching their lip or cheek gently before food or a spoon is put into their mouth will let them know they are about to eat. If you approach them gradually, talking to the baby as you near, they will not be startled. By splashing their feet and legs gently with water before putting them into to bath they will be prepared for the sudden change and temperature.
Language is central to helping a baby feel secure. We can talk about what is happening, and what will happen to them, as well as what they are touching, smelling, hearing and tasting. By using language we are helping them discover which words go with which particular action or object. If we use their name frequently, they will gradually learn that it applies to them, and if we use it at the beginning of a sentence it will help them to 'tune in' to us and they will learn that what is being said is directed to them.
It is not always easy to talk to babies and knowing exactly what to say to a baby can be a problem. For a baby who is blind it is best to talk about what is happening to them. You might talk about the sensations they are receiving such as:
"You're sitting on Daddy's knees, can you feel me bouncing up and down?", "You're in the bath, smell the soap";
"You're holding the washer in your hand";
"Can you hear Mummy coming into the room";
"It feels warm"
This type of language soon becomes second nature to parents and they become "interpreters" for their child, telling them about the world, helping them to learn and feel more secure.
Encouraging curiosity
Sighted children learn mostly because they are curious about objects that they can see. Children who are blind are unable to see interesting things to grasp and will not develop curiosity about objects unless they are in direct physical contact or encouraged to do so. A nine-month old baby who is blind is unlikely to reach for something that makes a noise, no matter how interesting it may sound. If they drop a favourite toy, they are unlikely to search for it. However, if through touch they are given the slightest clue as to where it is, they will grasp it quickly. A child who is blind can appear uninterested and lacking in curiosity, even though they may be listening intently to what is happening around them. To reach the stage where they will reach to sound and search for objects, they must be given experiences to encourage their curiosity.
Ways to encourage curiosity
Babies must first know their surroundings and that there are things outside their own body to experience. We can do this by bringing the world to them and by introducing them to things. For example, we can ensure that the baby is in frequent contact with toys by placing them near their body. When they move, chances will increase that they will touch something interesting. If toys are placed near their feet, they will learn that things happen 'down there' as well as near their hands.
We can give the baby a variety of experiences to show them the world is full of wonderful and various objects. This can include different:
Textures - such as soft or hard floors, sticky things, rough or smooth rugs and towels, scratchy, wet or dry surfaces;
Tastes - sweet, salty, sour, strong, bland;
Sizes big and small toys;
Sounds loud, soft, sharp, melodious, harsh, fast or slow;
Smells flowers, floor polish, soap, food.
Again, language is crucial in providing the framework on which a child can understand these experiences.
Learning through feedback
Instant and continuous feedback is essential in any learning to understand the effects of actions. For a child who is blind, feedback through language is essential. When a baby drops their rattle, they hear it, but unless we tell them what has happened, it will not make sense. We need to tell them when the food bowl is empty and they have eaten the last spoonful, that they are making the bell ring when they shake it and that the ball has rolled away when they throw it.
We can also encourage them to try new tasks and to practice skills simply by praising them and making them feel good.
Sighted children gain considerable feedback from facial expressions and gestures. A child who is blind must rely on what is said, how it is said and physical touch to sum up other peoples' moods and meaning. As well as keeping them in touch by words, it is useful to 'over act', to give emphasis to what is said. By giving a big hug and saying "that was wonderful", this means as much as a smile and a quiet "well done".
Feedback is a two way process and we react to children who are blind on the cues they give us. Babies and children who are blind do not react in the same way as sighted children to some situations. Rather than turn their eyes to a sound, they may turn their ear, or keep very still, listening intently.
Babies may not smile at first to a parent's voice or touch, but with time may learn to do so. When they realise that there are things 'out there', our baby's hands may make tentative, small movements, telling us that they are beginning to reach out. It is important that we learn to read these messages so that we can interpret them to increase learning.
Learning about themselves
We take for granted that out bodies have certain parts which all fit together that we can see. Children who are blind need to learn about their bodies and this can begin at birth. By nursing and rocking the child, they begin to learn what their body feel like. Massage can also draw attention to the different parts of their body and if we talk about what we are doing, they will learn even faster. As we dress and undress them, we can talk about the different body parts. Songs and rhymes about body parts can assist with remembering. We can also show them that we too have parts, like them.
Babies also need to learn where they are in space. Sometimes they are on the floor, or held up high in someone's arms. We can play games in which they are 'low' or 'high'. As they get older, we can show them that can fit through some spaces, but not through others or that they can fit their whole body in some spaces but only feet in others. We can orientate them with how a room is arranged, what is in it and how to get from one room to another. It is important that we talk to them about what they are experiencing so that they can attach meaning to what is happening.
Putting it all together: language and experience
Experiences alone are not enough. By giving the child the associated language for what is happening they can better interpret actions and surroundings. For example a sighted child can use their vision and senses they hear a noise, turn to see what caused it; see their brother with a sad face standing over a broken dish and their mother running from another room. They are able to use vision to make sense of this experience, however this must be verbalised or described to a child who is blind.
Actions and objects need to be placed in context as well as described to give true meaning. We might talk to a child daily about Daddy going to work on a train, however if the child has never experiences the train or does not know what it is, it will not be understood.
Television and radio can be another example. While babies and children may like TV and radio sounds unless understood they can be meaningless and confusing as background noise. At an early age it is better to focus on noises and sounds which they can experience personally linked to sensory development.
The most valuable communication with a child who is blind is grounded in experience, linked with what they are doing or happening to them here and now.
Linking experiences and language needs to be ongoing. Unlike sighted children who can use their vision to prompt their memories, children who are blind need frequent repetition of experiences with language to enable them to build up a picture of their world.
The baby hears sounds, some soft, some loud. While some sounds come from the same place others move and become louder or softer.
Smells are different and can remind the baby of people, food or different things like clothing and toys.
Tastes are different too. A toy is put into their hand, they chew it. As they place their face into the carpet they taste it. As a child explores, food, hands and objects all taste differently.
When they feel objects some things are hard and soft. Like the leg of a chair some are furry, others smooth, warm, cold or rough.
They are aware of movement by themselves and by others, sometimes suddenly. If another toddler stumbles over them, if a noisy toy is put into their hands or if they are lifted too quickly, this can be scary.
Gradually things will begin to make sense. When a baby hears a mother's voice, they are reassured. However, when they hear a different voice, they do not know what will happen. Some people will feel familiar and safe, while others are strange. They begin to learn when placed in a high chair, food is not far away. When they hear water running, smell the familiar smells of the bathroom and hear the word "bath" they know what is to come.
So even without sight, they are learning to anticipate what will happen next and now feel secure in certain situations. They will be able to connect words and sounds with actions and objects. However while they are receiving all these sensations, they are still unaware of much around them. There may be toys near by, but if they don't touch them they may never know where they are. A baby may be unaware that they are lying near table legs, that they are facing a certain direction or that their dummy, which they want desperately, is just out of reach.
In order to help the baby make sense of their surroundings, we must encourage sensory exploration to help them learn. We must give them meaning and the opportunity to find out about those things of which they are unaware.
The first step security
The world of a baby who is blind can be confusing, but we can help them feel secure in a number of ways by giving cues or warnings that something is about to happen. Before picking a baby up, we might gently grasp their hands and say "up you come", to prepare them. Touching their lip or cheek gently before food or a spoon is put into their mouth will let them know they are about to eat. If you approach them gradually, talking to the baby as you near, they will not be startled. By splashing their feet and legs gently with water before putting them into to bath they will be prepared for the sudden change and temperature.
Language is central to helping a baby feel secure. We can talk about what is happening, and what will happen to them, as well as what they are touching, smelling, hearing and tasting. By using language we are helping them discover which words go with which particular action or object. If we use their name frequently, they will gradually learn that it applies to them, and if we use it at the beginning of a sentence it will help them to 'tune in' to us and they will learn that what is being said is directed to them.
It is not always easy to talk to babies and knowing exactly what to say to a baby can be a problem. For a baby who is blind it is best to talk about what is happening to them. You might talk about the sensations they are receiving such as:
"You're sitting on Daddy's knees, can you feel me bouncing up and down?", "You're in the bath, smell the soap";
"You're holding the washer in your hand";
"Can you hear Mummy coming into the room";
"It feels warm"
This type of language soon becomes second nature to parents and they become "interpreters" for their child, telling them about the world, helping them to learn and feel more secure.
Encouraging curiosity
Sighted children learn mostly because they are curious about objects that they can see. Children who are blind are unable to see interesting things to grasp and will not develop curiosity about objects unless they are in direct physical contact or encouraged to do so. A nine-month old baby who is blind is unlikely to reach for something that makes a noise, no matter how interesting it may sound. If they drop a favourite toy, they are unlikely to search for it. However, if through touch they are given the slightest clue as to where it is, they will grasp it quickly. A child who is blind can appear uninterested and lacking in curiosity, even though they may be listening intently to what is happening around them. To reach the stage where they will reach to sound and search for objects, they must be given experiences to encourage their curiosity.
Ways to encourage curiosity
Babies must first know their surroundings and that there are things outside their own body to experience. We can do this by bringing the world to them and by introducing them to things. For example, we can ensure that the baby is in frequent contact with toys by placing them near their body. When they move, chances will increase that they will touch something interesting. If toys are placed near their feet, they will learn that things happen 'down there' as well as near their hands.
We can give the baby a variety of experiences to show them the world is full of wonderful and various objects. This can include different:
Textures - such as soft or hard floors, sticky things, rough or smooth rugs and towels, scratchy, wet or dry surfaces;
Tastes - sweet, salty, sour, strong, bland;
Sizes big and small toys;
Sounds loud, soft, sharp, melodious, harsh, fast or slow;
Smells flowers, floor polish, soap, food.
Again, language is crucial in providing the framework on which a child can understand these experiences.
Learning through feedback
Instant and continuous feedback is essential in any learning to understand the effects of actions. For a child who is blind, feedback through language is essential. When a baby drops their rattle, they hear it, but unless we tell them what has happened, it will not make sense. We need to tell them when the food bowl is empty and they have eaten the last spoonful, that they are making the bell ring when they shake it and that the ball has rolled away when they throw it.
We can also encourage them to try new tasks and to practice skills simply by praising them and making them feel good.
Sighted children gain considerable feedback from facial expressions and gestures. A child who is blind must rely on what is said, how it is said and physical touch to sum up other peoples' moods and meaning. As well as keeping them in touch by words, it is useful to 'over act', to give emphasis to what is said. By giving a big hug and saying "that was wonderful", this means as much as a smile and a quiet "well done".
Feedback is a two way process and we react to children who are blind on the cues they give us. Babies and children who are blind do not react in the same way as sighted children to some situations. Rather than turn their eyes to a sound, they may turn their ear, or keep very still, listening intently.
Babies may not smile at first to a parent's voice or touch, but with time may learn to do so. When they realise that there are things 'out there', our baby's hands may make tentative, small movements, telling us that they are beginning to reach out. It is important that we learn to read these messages so that we can interpret them to increase learning.
Learning about themselves
We take for granted that out bodies have certain parts which all fit together that we can see. Children who are blind need to learn about their bodies and this can begin at birth. By nursing and rocking the child, they begin to learn what their body feel like. Massage can also draw attention to the different parts of their body and if we talk about what we are doing, they will learn even faster. As we dress and undress them, we can talk about the different body parts. Songs and rhymes about body parts can assist with remembering. We can also show them that we too have parts, like them.
Babies also need to learn where they are in space. Sometimes they are on the floor, or held up high in someone's arms. We can play games in which they are 'low' or 'high'. As they get older, we can show them that can fit through some spaces, but not through others or that they can fit their whole body in some spaces but only feet in others. We can orientate them with how a room is arranged, what is in it and how to get from one room to another. It is important that we talk to them about what they are experiencing so that they can attach meaning to what is happening.
Putting it all together: language and experience
Experiences alone are not enough. By giving the child the associated language for what is happening they can better interpret actions and surroundings. For example a sighted child can use their vision and senses they hear a noise, turn to see what caused it; see their brother with a sad face standing over a broken dish and their mother running from another room. They are able to use vision to make sense of this experience, however this must be verbalised or described to a child who is blind.
Actions and objects need to be placed in context as well as described to give true meaning. We might talk to a child daily about Daddy going to work on a train, however if the child has never experiences the train or does not know what it is, it will not be understood.
Television and radio can be another example. While babies and children may like TV and radio sounds unless understood they can be meaningless and confusing as background noise. At an early age it is better to focus on noises and sounds which they can experience personally linked to sensory development.
The most valuable communication with a child who is blind is grounded in experience, linked with what they are doing or happening to them here and now.
Linking experiences and language needs to be ongoing. Unlike sighted children who can use their vision to prompt their memories, children who are blind need frequent repetition of experiences with language to enable them to build up a picture of their world.
Friday, April 6, 2012
zahra enlighten forum
Zahra Enlighten Forum
A conceited and self-admiring person is disliked by others; charity
and alms are the best remedy for ailments and calamities; one has to account in the next world for the deeds that he has done in this world. Imam Ali a.s
Empowering the visually impaired persons of Pakistan.
Every person is born with some special abilities. It is a fact that every human has some
sort of deficiency. Some are unable to see, some are unable to paint, some are unable to sing, some are unable to see, some are unable to hear or listen.
Every human being needs a healthy environment / loving family to become a successful person of society.
Often we talk about the visually impaired person of society. Often we read their achievements and praise them. Most of us are familiar with Helen Keller the great visually impaired lady of past.
Although we surely read about her achievements. But rarely did we read about how her parents brought up an extra hyper child. We must praise that society. The noble people who produced such a marvellous lady, in fact a role model for us.
If we pay heat towards such issues then surely we can change the lives of many visually impaired person of Pakistan.
In our lovely country there is a dire need of parents support group. For the parents of special children. Because the most difficult task for parents is to accept their child’s disability. All ophthalmologist should be aware with support groups so when they diagnose blindness they ask parents to meet such groups If parents get proper support then emotionally healthy parents can raise many future heroes.
On the other hands society should also understand how to deal with special person. Media can play a vital role in this regard. The most important contributor of children’s lives are the teachers / school environment. There is also a dire need of teacher development centres.
As technology has opened new roads of success for visually impaired person, so this is a right time for us to think about this basic issues.to invoke our society and turn its attention towards these issues zahra academy has establish a forum zahra enlighten forum. Our aim is to empower the visually impaired person of Pakistan.
Those who are interested in this noble work can join us by requesting membership form from zahra academy.
Please share your thoughts and ideas to develop a forum to achieve this objective.
Send your ideas or suggestions to zahraenlight@gmail.com
Thanks
Shazia Hasan
A conceited and self-admiring person is disliked by others; charity
and alms are the best remedy for ailments and calamities; one has to account in the next world for the deeds that he has done in this world. Imam Ali a.s
Empowering the visually impaired persons of Pakistan.
Every person is born with some special abilities. It is a fact that every human has some
sort of deficiency. Some are unable to see, some are unable to paint, some are unable to sing, some are unable to see, some are unable to hear or listen.
Every human being needs a healthy environment / loving family to become a successful person of society.
Often we talk about the visually impaired person of society. Often we read their achievements and praise them. Most of us are familiar with Helen Keller the great visually impaired lady of past.
Although we surely read about her achievements. But rarely did we read about how her parents brought up an extra hyper child. We must praise that society. The noble people who produced such a marvellous lady, in fact a role model for us.
If we pay heat towards such issues then surely we can change the lives of many visually impaired person of Pakistan.
In our lovely country there is a dire need of parents support group. For the parents of special children. Because the most difficult task for parents is to accept their child’s disability. All ophthalmologist should be aware with support groups so when they diagnose blindness they ask parents to meet such groups If parents get proper support then emotionally healthy parents can raise many future heroes.
On the other hands society should also understand how to deal with special person. Media can play a vital role in this regard. The most important contributor of children’s lives are the teachers / school environment. There is also a dire need of teacher development centres.
As technology has opened new roads of success for visually impaired person, so this is a right time for us to think about this basic issues.to invoke our society and turn its attention towards these issues zahra academy has establish a forum zahra enlighten forum. Our aim is to empower the visually impaired person of Pakistan.
Those who are interested in this noble work can join us by requesting membership form from zahra academy.
Please share your thoughts and ideas to develop a forum to achieve this objective.
Send your ideas or suggestions to zahraenlight@gmail.com
Thanks
Shazia Hasan
how the kids brain develop
How the Brain Develops
A number of factors influence early brain development. These important
factors include genetics, food and nutrition, responsiveness of
parents, daily experiences, physical activity and love. In particular,
parents should be aware of the importance of furnishing a healthy and
nutritious diet, giving love and nurturing, providing interesting and
varied everyday experiences, and giving children positive and
sensitive feedback.
In the past, some scientists thought the brain's development was
determined genetically and brain growth followed a biologically
predetermined path. Now we know that early experiences impact the
development of the brain and influence the specific way in which the
circuits (or pathways) of the brain become "wired." A baby's brain is
a work in progress. The outside world shapes its development through
experiences that a child's senses — vision, hearing, smell, touch and
taste — absorb. For example:
• The scent of the mother's skin (smell)
• The father's voice (hearing)
• Seeing a face or brightly colored toy (vision)
• The feel of a hand gently caressing (touch)
• Drinking milk (taste)
Experiences that the five senses take in help build the connections
that guide brain development. Early experiences have a decisive impact
on the actual architecture of the brain.
Recent equipment and technological advances have allowed scientists to
see the brain working. What scientists have found is that the brain
continues to form after birth based on experiences. An infant's mind
is primed for learning, but it needs early experiences to wire the
neural circuits of the brain that facilitate learning.
Imagine that a child's brain is like a house that has just been built.
The walls are up, the doors are hung. Then you go to the store and buy
electrical wiring, switches, a fuse box and other electrical supplies.
You bring these supplies to the new house and set them on the floor.
Will they work? Probably not. You first must string the wiring and
hook up all of the connections. This is quite similar to the way our
brains are formed. We are born with as many nerve cells as stars in
the Milky Way galaxy. But these cells have not yet established a
pattern of wiring between them — they haven't made their connections.
What the brain has done is to lay out circuits that are its best guess
about what is required for vision, language, etc. Now the sensory
experiences must take this rough blueprint and progressively refine
it. Circuits are made into patterns that enable newborn infants to
perceive their mother's touch, their father's voice and other aspects
of their environment.
Normal sensory experiences direct brain cells to their location and
reinforce the connections between brain cells. We are born with more
than 100 billion brain cells or neurons; we will not grow more. That's
about 10 times the number of stars in the entire Milky Way, and about
20 times the number of people on the planet.
Neurons are the functioning core of the brain. Each cell body is about
one-hundredth the size of the period at the end of this sentence. A
neuron has branches or dendrites emerging from the cell body. These
dendrites pick up chemical signals across a synapse and the impulse
travels the length of the axon. Each axon branch has a sac containing
neurotransmitters at its tip. The electrical impulse causes the
release of the neurotransmitters, which, in turn, stimulates or
inhibits neighboring dendrites, like an on-off switch.
These connections are miracles of the human body. But to understand
their power, you have to multiply this miracle by trillions. A single
cell can connect with as many as 15,000 other cells.
This incredibly complex network of connections that results often is
referred to as the brain's "circuitry" or "wiring." Experience shapes
the way circuits are made in the brain.
A remarkable increase in synapses occurs during the first year of
life. The brain develops a functional architecture through the
development of these synapses or connections.
For example, if a parent repeatedly calls a child a certain name, then
connections will form that allow the child to recognize that name over
time as referring to him and he will learn to respond. From birth, the
brain rapidly is creating these connections that form our habits,
thoughts, consciousness, memories and mind.
By the time a child is 3 years old, a baby's brain has formed about
1,000 trillion connections — about twice as many as adults have. A
baby's brain is superdense and will stay that way throughout the first
decade of life. Beginning at about age 11, a child's brain gets rid of
extra connections in a process calling "pruning," gradually making
order out of a thick tangle of "wires."
The remaining "wiring" is more powerful and efficient. The increase in
synaptic density in a child's brain can be seen in Figure 2. The
interactions that parents assist with in a child's environment are
what spur the growth and pattern of these connections in the brain.
As the synapses in a child's brain are strengthened through repeated
experiences, connections and pathways are formed that structure the
way a child learns. If a pathway is not used, it's eliminated based on
the "use it or lose it" principle. Things you do a single time, either
good or bad, are somewhat less likely to have an effect on brain
development.
When a connection is used repeatedly in the early years, it becomes
permanent. For example, when adults repeat words and phrases as they
talk to babies, babies learn to understand speech and strengthen the
language connections in the brain.
Figure 1. Neurons and connections
Figure 2. Synaptic density in the human brain
Construction of the Brain
We have explored how the brain develops at the cellular level with
neurons and connections. Understanding the different parts of the
brain as a whole and how it functions and develops also is useful.
The brain grows in sequential fashion, from bottom to top, or from the
least complex part (brain stem) to the more complex area (cortex). If
you draw a line from the forehead to the chin and open the brain for a
side view, you would see the brain as it is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3.Brain: side view
The basic elements of the human brain include the following:
1. The brainstem is at the base of the skull and it controls most
basic life activities, including blood pressure and body temperature.
2. The midbrain is at the top of the brainstem and it controls motor
activity, appetite and sleep.
3. The cerebellum is behind the brainstem and it coordinates movement
and balance.
4. The limbic system is in the central part of the brain and it
controls emotions, attachment and memory.
5. The cortex is the top layer of the brain and is about the depth of
two dimes placed on top of each other. The cortex is the "executive
branch" of the brain that regulates decision-making and controls
thinking, reasoning and language.
The cerebral cortex contains 80 percent of the neurons in the brain.
Because it is the least developed part of the brain at birth and keeps
developing until adolescence and even beyond, the cortex is more
sensitive to experiences than other parts of the brain.
Construction of the brain is somewhat like the construction of a
house. A house is built from the foundation up and different parts of
the structure have different functions. Also, like the brain, once the
architecture is in place, you can continue learning and "add on" or
"decorate." But, if you have to move a wall or add a window, it is
more difficult and expensive than if you had done it earlier in the
building process.
Critical Periods of Brain Development
Brain development proceeds in waves, with different parts of the brain
becoming active "construction sites" at different times. The brain's
ability to respond to experience presents exciting opportunities for a
child's development.
Learning continues throughout life. However, "prime times" or "windows
of opportunity" exist when the brain is a kind of "supersponge,"
absorbing new information more easily than at other times and
developing in major leaps. While this is true especially in the first
three years of life, it continues throughout early childhood and
adolescence. For example, young children learn the grammar and meaning
of their native language with only simple exposure.
While learning later is possible, it usually is slower and more
difficult. Some improvement in most skills is possible throughout
life. However, providing children with the best opportunity for
learning and growth during the periods when their minds are most ready
to absorb new information is important.
Visual and auditory development
The "prime time" for visual and auditory development, or a child's
capacity for learning to see and hear, is from birth to between 4 and
5 years old. The development of these sensory capacities is very
important for allowing children, especially babies, to perceive and
interact with the world around them. During the first few months,
especially, babies need to see shapes, colors, objects at varying
distances and movement for the brain to learn how to see. Babies also
need exposure to a variety of sounds so their brain can learn to
process that information and allow for responsiveness by hearing
something.
Language development
The "prime time" for language development and learning to talk is from
birth to 10 years of age. Children are learning language during this
entire period. However, the "prime time" for language learning is the
first few years of life. Children need to hear you constantly talk,
sing and read to them during these early years. Respond to their
babbling and language efforts.
Children vary in their language development during these first years,
so parents should allow for some variation in children's abilities at
different ages. They should encourage language development, be patient
and seek assistance from a qualified professional if concerns arise
about a child's progress in this area.
Physical and motor development
The "prime time" for physical and motor development in children is
from birth to 12 years of age. Children become physically ready for
different aspects of motor development at different times. Large motor
skills, such as walking, tend to come before the refinement of fine
motor skills, such as using a crayon.
A child needs several years to develop the coordination skills to play
catch with a ball easily, and even then refinement of such skills
continues into a child's early adolescence. Parents should monitor a
child's motor development but be patient since children vary in their
rates of development.
Emotional and social development
The "prime time" for emotional and social development in children is
birth to 12 years of age. Differing aspects of emotional and social
development, which incorporate higher capacities, such as awareness of
others, empathy and trust, are important at different times. For
example, the real "prime time" for emotional attachment to be
developed is from birth to 18 months, when a young child is forming
attachments with critical caregivers. Such development provides the
foundations for other aspects of emotional development that occur as
children grow.
Emotional intelligence is critical to life success. The part of the
brain that regulates emotion, the amygdala, is shaped early on by
experience and forms the brain's emotional wiring. Early nurturing is
important to learning empathy, happiness, hopefulness and resiliency.
Social development, which involves both self-awareness and a child's
ability to interact with others, also occurs in stages. For example,
sharing toys is something that a 2-year old's brain is not fully
developed to do well, so this social ability is more common and
positive with toddlers who are 3 or older. A parent's efforts to
nurture and guide a child will assist in laying healthy foundations
for social and emotional development.
Conclusion
The development of a child's brain holds the key to the child's
future. Although the "first years last forever" in terms of the rapid
development of young children's brains, the actual first years of a
child's life go by very quickly. So touch, talk, read, smile, sing,
count and play with your children. It does more than make both of you
feel good. It helps a child's brain develop and nourishes the child's
potential for a lifetime.
--
how the children brain develop
How the Brain Develops
A number of factors influence early brain development. These important
factors include genetics, food and nutrition, responsiveness of
parents, daily experiences, physical activity and love. In particular,
parents should be aware of the importance of furnishing a healthy and
nutritious diet, giving love and nurturing, providing interesting and
varied everyday experiences, and giving children positive and
sensitive feedback.
In the past, some scientists thought the brain's development was
determined genetically and brain growth followed a biologically
predetermined path. Now we know that early experiences impact the
development of the brain and influence the specific way in which the
circuits (or pathways) of the brain become "wired." A baby's brain is
a work in progress. The outside world shapes its development through
experiences that a child's senses — vision, hearing, smell, touch and
taste — absorb. For example:
• The scent of the mother's skin (smell)
• The father's voice (hearing)
• Seeing a face or brightly colored toy (vision)
• The feel of a hand gently caressing (touch)
• Drinking milk (taste)
Experiences that the five senses take in help build the connections
that guide brain development. Early experiences have a decisive impact
on the actual architecture of the brain.
Recent equipment and technological advances have allowed scientists to
see the brain working. What scientists have found is that the brain
continues to form after birth based on experiences. An infant's mind
is primed for learning, but it needs early experiences to wire the
neural circuits of the brain that facilitate learning.
Imagine that a child's brain is like a house that has just been built.
The walls are up, the doors are hung. Then you go to the store and buy
electrical wiring, switches, a fuse box and other electrical supplies.
You bring these supplies to the new house and set them on the floor.
Will they work? Probably not. You first must string the wiring and
hook up all of the connections. This is quite similar to the way our
brains are formed. We are born with as many nerve cells as stars in
the Milky Way galaxy. But these cells have not yet established a
pattern of wiring between them — they haven't made their connections.
What the brain has done is to lay out circuits that are its best guess
about what is required for vision, language, etc. Now the sensory
experiences must take this rough blueprint and progressively refine
it. Circuits are made into patterns that enable newborn infants to
perceive their mother's touch, their father's voice and other aspects
of their environment.
Normal sensory experiences direct brain cells to their location and
reinforce the connections between brain cells. We are born with more
than 100 billion brain cells or neurons; we will not grow more. That's
about 10 times the number of stars in the entire Milky Way, and about
20 times the number of people on the planet.
Neurons are the functioning core of the brain. Each cell body is about
one-hundredth the size of the period at the end of this sentence. A
neuron has branches or dendrites emerging from the cell body. These
dendrites pick up chemical signals across a synapse and the impulse
travels the length of the axon. Each axon branch has a sac containing
neurotransmitters at its tip. The electrical impulse causes the
release of the neurotransmitters, which, in turn, stimulates or
inhibits neighboring dendrites, like an on-off switch.
These connections are miracles of the human body. But to understand
their power, you have to multiply this miracle by trillions. A single
cell can connect with as many as 15,000 other cells.
This incredibly complex network of connections that results often is
referred to as the brain's "circuitry" or "wiring." Experience shapes
the way circuits are made in the brain.
A remarkable increase in synapses occurs during the first year of
life. The brain develops a functional architecture through the
development of these synapses or connections.
For example, if a parent repeatedly calls a child a certain name, then
connections will form that allow the child to recognize that name over
time as referring to him and he will learn to respond. From birth, the
brain rapidly is creating these connections that form our habits,
thoughts, consciousness, memories and mind.
By the time a child is 3 years old, a baby's brain has formed about
1,000 trillion connections — about twice as many as adults have. A
baby's brain is superdense and will stay that way throughout the first
decade of life. Beginning at about age 11, a child's brain gets rid of
extra connections in a process calling "pruning," gradually making
order out of a thick tangle of "wires."
The remaining "wiring" is more powerful and efficient. The increase in
synaptic density in a child's brain can be seen in Figure 2. The
interactions that parents assist with in a child's environment are
what spur the growth and pattern of these connections in the brain.
As the synapses in a child's brain are strengthened through repeated
experiences, connections and pathways are formed that structure the
way a child learns. If a pathway is not used, it's eliminated based on
the "use it or lose it" principle. Things you do a single time, either
good or bad, are somewhat less likely to have an effect on brain
development.
When a connection is used repeatedly in the early years, it becomes
permanent. For example, when adults repeat words and phrases as they
talk to babies, babies learn to understand speech and strengthen the
language connections in the brain.
Figure 1. Neurons and connections
Figure 2. Synaptic density in the human brain
Construction of the Brain
We have explored how the brain develops at the cellular level with
neurons and connections. Understanding the different parts of the
brain as a whole and how it functions and develops also is useful.
The brain grows in sequential fashion, from bottom to top, or from the
least complex part (brain stem) to the more complex area (cortex). If
you draw a line from the forehead to the chin and open the brain for a
side view, you would see the brain as it is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3.Brain: side view
The basic elements of the human brain include the following:
1. The brainstem is at the base of the skull and it controls most
basic life activities, including blood pressure and body temperature.
2. The midbrain is at the top of the brainstem and it controls motor
activity, appetite and sleep.
3. The cerebellum is behind the brainstem and it coordinates movement
and balance.
4. The limbic system is in the central part of the brain and it
controls emotions, attachment and memory.
5. The cortex is the top layer of the brain and is about the depth of
two dimes placed on top of each other. The cortex is the "executive
branch" of the brain that regulates decision-making and controls
thinking, reasoning and language.
The cerebral cortex contains 80 percent of the neurons in the brain.
Because it is the least developed part of the brain at birth and keeps
developing until adolescence and even beyond, the cortex is more
sensitive to experiences than other parts of the brain.
Construction of the brain is somewhat like the construction of a
house. A house is built from the foundation up and different parts of
the structure have different functions. Also, like the brain, once the
architecture is in place, you can continue learning and "add on" or
"decorate." But, if you have to move a wall or add a window, it is
more difficult and expensive than if you had done it earlier in the
building process.
Critical Periods of Brain Development
Brain development proceeds in waves, with different parts of the brain
becoming active "construction sites" at different times. The brain's
ability to respond to experience presents exciting opportunities for a
child's development.
Learning continues throughout life. However, "prime times" or "windows
of opportunity" exist when the brain is a kind of "supersponge,"
absorbing new information more easily than at other times and
developing in major leaps. While this is true especially in the first
three years of life, it continues throughout early childhood and
adolescence. For example, young children learn the grammar and meaning
of their native language with only simple exposure.
While learning later is possible, it usually is slower and more
difficult. Some improvement in most skills is possible throughout
life. However, providing children with the best opportunity for
learning and growth during the periods when their minds are most ready
to absorb new information is important.
Visual and auditory development
The "prime time" for visual and auditory development, or a child's
capacity for learning to see and hear, is from birth to between 4 and
5 years old. The development of these sensory capacities is very
important for allowing children, especially babies, to perceive and
interact with the world around them. During the first few months,
especially, babies need to see shapes, colors, objects at varying
distances and movement for the brain to learn how to see. Babies also
need exposure to a variety of sounds so their brain can learn to
process that information and allow for responsiveness by hearing
something.
Language development
The "prime time" for language development and learning to talk is from
birth to 10 years of age. Children are learning language during this
entire period. However, the "prime time" for language learning is the
first few years of life. Children need to hear you constantly talk,
sing and read to them during these early years. Respond to their
babbling and language efforts.
Children vary in their language development during these first years,
so parents should allow for some variation in children's abilities at
different ages. They should encourage language development, be patient
and seek assistance from a qualified professional if concerns arise
about a child's progress in this area.
Physical and motor development
The "prime time" for physical and motor development in children is
from birth to 12 years of age. Children become physically ready for
different aspects of motor development at different times. Large motor
skills, such as walking, tend to come before the refinement of fine
motor skills, such as using a crayon.
A child needs several years to develop the coordination skills to play
catch with a ball easily, and even then refinement of such skills
continues into a child's early adolescence. Parents should monitor a
child's motor development but be patient since children vary in their
rates of development.
Emotional and social development
The "prime time" for emotional and social development in children is
birth to 12 years of age. Differing aspects of emotional and social
development, which incorporate higher capacities, such as awareness of
others, empathy and trust, are important at different times. For
example, the real "prime time" for emotional attachment to be
developed is from birth to 18 months, when a young child is forming
attachments with critical caregivers. Such development provides the
foundations for other aspects of emotional development that occur as
children grow.
Emotional intelligence is critical to life success. The part of the
brain that regulates emotion, the amygdala, is shaped early on by
experience and forms the brain's emotional wiring. Early nurturing is
important to learning empathy, happiness, hopefulness and resiliency.
Social development, which involves both self-awareness and a child's
ability to interact with others, also occurs in stages. For example,
sharing toys is something that a 2-year old's brain is not fully
developed to do well, so this social ability is more common and
positive with toddlers who are 3 or older. A parent's efforts to
nurture and guide a child will assist in laying healthy foundations
for social and emotional development.
Conclusion
The development of a child's brain holds the key to the child's
future. Although the "first years last forever" in terms of the rapid
development of young children's brains, the actual first years of a
child's life go by very quickly. So touch, talk, read, smile, sing,
count and play with your children. It does more than make both of you
feel good. It helps a child's brain develop and nourishes the child's
potential for a lifetime.
)(
--
A number of factors influence early brain development. These important
factors include genetics, food and nutrition, responsiveness of
parents, daily experiences, physical activity and love. In particular,
parents should be aware of the importance of furnishing a healthy and
nutritious diet, giving love and nurturing, providing interesting and
varied everyday experiences, and giving children positive and
sensitive feedback.
In the past, some scientists thought the brain's development was
determined genetically and brain growth followed a biologically
predetermined path. Now we know that early experiences impact the
development of the brain and influence the specific way in which the
circuits (or pathways) of the brain become "wired." A baby's brain is
a work in progress. The outside world shapes its development through
experiences that a child's senses — vision, hearing, smell, touch and
taste — absorb. For example:
• The scent of the mother's skin (smell)
• The father's voice (hearing)
• Seeing a face or brightly colored toy (vision)
• The feel of a hand gently caressing (touch)
• Drinking milk (taste)
Experiences that the five senses take in help build the connections
that guide brain development. Early experiences have a decisive impact
on the actual architecture of the brain.
Recent equipment and technological advances have allowed scientists to
see the brain working. What scientists have found is that the brain
continues to form after birth based on experiences. An infant's mind
is primed for learning, but it needs early experiences to wire the
neural circuits of the brain that facilitate learning.
Imagine that a child's brain is like a house that has just been built.
The walls are up, the doors are hung. Then you go to the store and buy
electrical wiring, switches, a fuse box and other electrical supplies.
You bring these supplies to the new house and set them on the floor.
Will they work? Probably not. You first must string the wiring and
hook up all of the connections. This is quite similar to the way our
brains are formed. We are born with as many nerve cells as stars in
the Milky Way galaxy. But these cells have not yet established a
pattern of wiring between them — they haven't made their connections.
What the brain has done is to lay out circuits that are its best guess
about what is required for vision, language, etc. Now the sensory
experiences must take this rough blueprint and progressively refine
it. Circuits are made into patterns that enable newborn infants to
perceive their mother's touch, their father's voice and other aspects
of their environment.
Normal sensory experiences direct brain cells to their location and
reinforce the connections between brain cells. We are born with more
than 100 billion brain cells or neurons; we will not grow more. That's
about 10 times the number of stars in the entire Milky Way, and about
20 times the number of people on the planet.
Neurons are the functioning core of the brain. Each cell body is about
one-hundredth the size of the period at the end of this sentence. A
neuron has branches or dendrites emerging from the cell body. These
dendrites pick up chemical signals across a synapse and the impulse
travels the length of the axon. Each axon branch has a sac containing
neurotransmitters at its tip. The electrical impulse causes the
release of the neurotransmitters, which, in turn, stimulates or
inhibits neighboring dendrites, like an on-off switch.
These connections are miracles of the human body. But to understand
their power, you have to multiply this miracle by trillions. A single
cell can connect with as many as 15,000 other cells.
This incredibly complex network of connections that results often is
referred to as the brain's "circuitry" or "wiring." Experience shapes
the way circuits are made in the brain.
A remarkable increase in synapses occurs during the first year of
life. The brain develops a functional architecture through the
development of these synapses or connections.
For example, if a parent repeatedly calls a child a certain name, then
connections will form that allow the child to recognize that name over
time as referring to him and he will learn to respond. From birth, the
brain rapidly is creating these connections that form our habits,
thoughts, consciousness, memories and mind.
By the time a child is 3 years old, a baby's brain has formed about
1,000 trillion connections — about twice as many as adults have. A
baby's brain is superdense and will stay that way throughout the first
decade of life. Beginning at about age 11, a child's brain gets rid of
extra connections in a process calling "pruning," gradually making
order out of a thick tangle of "wires."
The remaining "wiring" is more powerful and efficient. The increase in
synaptic density in a child's brain can be seen in Figure 2. The
interactions that parents assist with in a child's environment are
what spur the growth and pattern of these connections in the brain.
As the synapses in a child's brain are strengthened through repeated
experiences, connections and pathways are formed that structure the
way a child learns. If a pathway is not used, it's eliminated based on
the "use it or lose it" principle. Things you do a single time, either
good or bad, are somewhat less likely to have an effect on brain
development.
When a connection is used repeatedly in the early years, it becomes
permanent. For example, when adults repeat words and phrases as they
talk to babies, babies learn to understand speech and strengthen the
language connections in the brain.
Figure 1. Neurons and connections
Figure 2. Synaptic density in the human brain
Construction of the Brain
We have explored how the brain develops at the cellular level with
neurons and connections. Understanding the different parts of the
brain as a whole and how it functions and develops also is useful.
The brain grows in sequential fashion, from bottom to top, or from the
least complex part (brain stem) to the more complex area (cortex). If
you draw a line from the forehead to the chin and open the brain for a
side view, you would see the brain as it is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3.Brain: side view
The basic elements of the human brain include the following:
1. The brainstem is at the base of the skull and it controls most
basic life activities, including blood pressure and body temperature.
2. The midbrain is at the top of the brainstem and it controls motor
activity, appetite and sleep.
3. The cerebellum is behind the brainstem and it coordinates movement
and balance.
4. The limbic system is in the central part of the brain and it
controls emotions, attachment and memory.
5. The cortex is the top layer of the brain and is about the depth of
two dimes placed on top of each other. The cortex is the "executive
branch" of the brain that regulates decision-making and controls
thinking, reasoning and language.
The cerebral cortex contains 80 percent of the neurons in the brain.
Because it is the least developed part of the brain at birth and keeps
developing until adolescence and even beyond, the cortex is more
sensitive to experiences than other parts of the brain.
Construction of the brain is somewhat like the construction of a
house. A house is built from the foundation up and different parts of
the structure have different functions. Also, like the brain, once the
architecture is in place, you can continue learning and "add on" or
"decorate." But, if you have to move a wall or add a window, it is
more difficult and expensive than if you had done it earlier in the
building process.
Critical Periods of Brain Development
Brain development proceeds in waves, with different parts of the brain
becoming active "construction sites" at different times. The brain's
ability to respond to experience presents exciting opportunities for a
child's development.
Learning continues throughout life. However, "prime times" or "windows
of opportunity" exist when the brain is a kind of "supersponge,"
absorbing new information more easily than at other times and
developing in major leaps. While this is true especially in the first
three years of life, it continues throughout early childhood and
adolescence. For example, young children learn the grammar and meaning
of their native language with only simple exposure.
While learning later is possible, it usually is slower and more
difficult. Some improvement in most skills is possible throughout
life. However, providing children with the best opportunity for
learning and growth during the periods when their minds are most ready
to absorb new information is important.
Visual and auditory development
The "prime time" for visual and auditory development, or a child's
capacity for learning to see and hear, is from birth to between 4 and
5 years old. The development of these sensory capacities is very
important for allowing children, especially babies, to perceive and
interact with the world around them. During the first few months,
especially, babies need to see shapes, colors, objects at varying
distances and movement for the brain to learn how to see. Babies also
need exposure to a variety of sounds so their brain can learn to
process that information and allow for responsiveness by hearing
something.
Language development
The "prime time" for language development and learning to talk is from
birth to 10 years of age. Children are learning language during this
entire period. However, the "prime time" for language learning is the
first few years of life. Children need to hear you constantly talk,
sing and read to them during these early years. Respond to their
babbling and language efforts.
Children vary in their language development during these first years,
so parents should allow for some variation in children's abilities at
different ages. They should encourage language development, be patient
and seek assistance from a qualified professional if concerns arise
about a child's progress in this area.
Physical and motor development
The "prime time" for physical and motor development in children is
from birth to 12 years of age. Children become physically ready for
different aspects of motor development at different times. Large motor
skills, such as walking, tend to come before the refinement of fine
motor skills, such as using a crayon.
A child needs several years to develop the coordination skills to play
catch with a ball easily, and even then refinement of such skills
continues into a child's early adolescence. Parents should monitor a
child's motor development but be patient since children vary in their
rates of development.
Emotional and social development
The "prime time" for emotional and social development in children is
birth to 12 years of age. Differing aspects of emotional and social
development, which incorporate higher capacities, such as awareness of
others, empathy and trust, are important at different times. For
example, the real "prime time" for emotional attachment to be
developed is from birth to 18 months, when a young child is forming
attachments with critical caregivers. Such development provides the
foundations for other aspects of emotional development that occur as
children grow.
Emotional intelligence is critical to life success. The part of the
brain that regulates emotion, the amygdala, is shaped early on by
experience and forms the brain's emotional wiring. Early nurturing is
important to learning empathy, happiness, hopefulness and resiliency.
Social development, which involves both self-awareness and a child's
ability to interact with others, also occurs in stages. For example,
sharing toys is something that a 2-year old's brain is not fully
developed to do well, so this social ability is more common and
positive with toddlers who are 3 or older. A parent's efforts to
nurture and guide a child will assist in laying healthy foundations
for social and emotional development.
Conclusion
The development of a child's brain holds the key to the child's
future. Although the "first years last forever" in terms of the rapid
development of young children's brains, the actual first years of a
child's life go by very quickly. So touch, talk, read, smile, sing,
count and play with your children. It does more than make both of you
feel good. It helps a child's brain develop and nourishes the child's
potential for a lifetime.
)(
--
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
our eyes Things you did not know about your EYES.
Things you did not know about your EYES.
Few people could argue that without our 5 senses life would be pretty dull. All our senses are extremely important but I think if you asked most people which sense would they least like to lose they would probably say their vision.
As with most of our abilities our vision is something that many of us take for granted. If you stop and think for a moment, you will realize that just about everything we do in our day to day life involves our vision. During this article I am going to try and see if I can get you to start thinking a little bit more about your eyes. Listed below is my top 10 list of weird and wonderful things you didn’t know about your eyes.
1. Everyone needs reading glasses as they get older
This is assuming that you already have perfect distance vision. If you are currently reading this article and are under 40 years of age with perfect distance vision, I can say with absolute certainty that you will need reading glasses at some point in the future. For about 99% of the population the age that you will first start needing reading glasses is between 43 and 50 years old. This is because the lens in your eye slowly loses its focusing ability with age. In order to focus things near to you, your lens has to change from a flat to a more spherical shape and it loses the ability to do this as you get older. As you get to around 45 years old you will start to hold things further away from you to keep them focus.
2. The lens in your eye is quicker than any camera lens
Just behind the pupil sits the eyes natural lens, whose function is to focus on the object you are looking at. Just take a minute to glance around the room and think about how many different distances you are focusing at. Every time you do this, the lens in your eye is instantly changing focus without you even being aware of it! Compare that with a camera lens which takes a few seconds to focus between one distance and another. Just be thankful that the lens in your eye is as quick as it is, otherwise things would be continually going in and out of focus.
3. Your eyes are fully developed by the age of 7 years old
By the age of 7 years old our eyes are fully developed and are physiologically the same as adult’s eyes. It is for this reason that it is vitally important to pick up a lazy eye before we reach this age. The earlier a lazy eye is diagnosed, the greater the chance it will respond to treatment, as the eyes are still developing and capable of an improvement in vision. Beyond 7 years old no amount of treatment will result in any improvement in vision.
4. You blink approximately 15,000 times each day
Blinking is a semi- involuntary function meaning we do it automatically, but can also choose to blink if we so require. Blinking is an extremely important function of your eyes as it helps remove any debris on the surface of your eye, by spreading fresh tears over them. These tears help to nourish your eyes with oxygen and also have important anti bacterial properties. You can think of the function of blinking as being similar to the action of the windscreen wipers on your car, cleaning and removing everything to keep you seeing clearly.
5. Everyone gets cataracts as they get older
People don’t realize that cataracts are just a normal consequence of getting older and everyone gets them at some point in their life. You can think of cataracts as being similar to getting grey hair, in that it is just a normal natural age change. The average age people first get cataracts is about aged 70 years old and by 80 years old you are guaranteed to have cataracts. In the same way that you could not find any aged 80 years old without grey hair, it would be equally impossible to find anyone over 80 years old without cataracts. Cataracts refer to a gradual clouding of the lens in your eye and typically take about ten years from onset to them needing treatment.
6. Diabetes is often first detected during an eye test
People who suffer from type 2 diabetes (the type you develop later in life) are often symptom free, meaning they often don’t even know that they have it. This type of diabetes is commonly picked up during an eye test as it can be seen as tiny hemorrhages from leaking blood vessels at the back of your eye. This certainly is good reason to get your eyes tested regularly.
7. You see with your brain and not your eyes
The function of your eyes is to collect all the required information about the object you are looking at. This information is then passed from your eye to the brain via the optic nerve. It is the brain (visual cortex) where all this information is analyzed to enable you to ‘see’ the object in its finished form. This is not to say that your eyes don’t play an important role as they certainly do.
8. Your eyes can adapt to blind spots in your vision
Certain eye conditions such as Glaucoma and certain general health conditions such as having a stroke, can lead to you developing blind spots in your vision. This would be extremely debilitating if it wasn’t for your brain and your eyes ability to adapt to make these blind spots disappear. It does this by suppressing the blind spot in your affected eye and letting your other good eye ‘fill in the gaps’. It is adaptation like this that makes your eyes so resilient.
9. 20:20 vision is not the best vision you can have
When people hear the phrase 20:20 vision they assume that this is the best vision possible. However this is not true as 20:20 vision refers to what the average adult should be able to see. If you imagine a typical eye test chart the 20:20 vision is probably only the line second from the bottom. The line below it is even smaller than 20:20 vision and would mean you have 20:16 vision. So don’t be so impressed next time someone tells you they have 20:20 vision!
10. Your eyes water when they are dry
I know this might sound crazy but this is one of strange facts about your eyes. Your tears are made up of 3 different components and they are water, mucus and fat. If these 3 components are not in exactly the right quantities, your eyes can become dry as a consequence. Your brain responds to this dryness by producing extra water and hence your eyes water.
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Few people could argue that without our 5 senses life would be pretty dull. All our senses are extremely important but I think if you asked most people which sense would they least like to lose they would probably say their vision.
As with most of our abilities our vision is something that many of us take for granted. If you stop and think for a moment, you will realize that just about everything we do in our day to day life involves our vision. During this article I am going to try and see if I can get you to start thinking a little bit more about your eyes. Listed below is my top 10 list of weird and wonderful things you didn’t know about your eyes.
1. Everyone needs reading glasses as they get older
This is assuming that you already have perfect distance vision. If you are currently reading this article and are under 40 years of age with perfect distance vision, I can say with absolute certainty that you will need reading glasses at some point in the future. For about 99% of the population the age that you will first start needing reading glasses is between 43 and 50 years old. This is because the lens in your eye slowly loses its focusing ability with age. In order to focus things near to you, your lens has to change from a flat to a more spherical shape and it loses the ability to do this as you get older. As you get to around 45 years old you will start to hold things further away from you to keep them focus.
2. The lens in your eye is quicker than any camera lens
Just behind the pupil sits the eyes natural lens, whose function is to focus on the object you are looking at. Just take a minute to glance around the room and think about how many different distances you are focusing at. Every time you do this, the lens in your eye is instantly changing focus without you even being aware of it! Compare that with a camera lens which takes a few seconds to focus between one distance and another. Just be thankful that the lens in your eye is as quick as it is, otherwise things would be continually going in and out of focus.
3. Your eyes are fully developed by the age of 7 years old
By the age of 7 years old our eyes are fully developed and are physiologically the same as adult’s eyes. It is for this reason that it is vitally important to pick up a lazy eye before we reach this age. The earlier a lazy eye is diagnosed, the greater the chance it will respond to treatment, as the eyes are still developing and capable of an improvement in vision. Beyond 7 years old no amount of treatment will result in any improvement in vision.
4. You blink approximately 15,000 times each day
Blinking is a semi- involuntary function meaning we do it automatically, but can also choose to blink if we so require. Blinking is an extremely important function of your eyes as it helps remove any debris on the surface of your eye, by spreading fresh tears over them. These tears help to nourish your eyes with oxygen and also have important anti bacterial properties. You can think of the function of blinking as being similar to the action of the windscreen wipers on your car, cleaning and removing everything to keep you seeing clearly.
5. Everyone gets cataracts as they get older
People don’t realize that cataracts are just a normal consequence of getting older and everyone gets them at some point in their life. You can think of cataracts as being similar to getting grey hair, in that it is just a normal natural age change. The average age people first get cataracts is about aged 70 years old and by 80 years old you are guaranteed to have cataracts. In the same way that you could not find any aged 80 years old without grey hair, it would be equally impossible to find anyone over 80 years old without cataracts. Cataracts refer to a gradual clouding of the lens in your eye and typically take about ten years from onset to them needing treatment.
6. Diabetes is often first detected during an eye test
People who suffer from type 2 diabetes (the type you develop later in life) are often symptom free, meaning they often don’t even know that they have it. This type of diabetes is commonly picked up during an eye test as it can be seen as tiny hemorrhages from leaking blood vessels at the back of your eye. This certainly is good reason to get your eyes tested regularly.
7. You see with your brain and not your eyes
The function of your eyes is to collect all the required information about the object you are looking at. This information is then passed from your eye to the brain via the optic nerve. It is the brain (visual cortex) where all this information is analyzed to enable you to ‘see’ the object in its finished form. This is not to say that your eyes don’t play an important role as they certainly do.
8. Your eyes can adapt to blind spots in your vision
Certain eye conditions such as Glaucoma and certain general health conditions such as having a stroke, can lead to you developing blind spots in your vision. This would be extremely debilitating if it wasn’t for your brain and your eyes ability to adapt to make these blind spots disappear. It does this by suppressing the blind spot in your affected eye and letting your other good eye ‘fill in the gaps’. It is adaptation like this that makes your eyes so resilient.
9. 20:20 vision is not the best vision you can have
When people hear the phrase 20:20 vision they assume that this is the best vision possible. However this is not true as 20:20 vision refers to what the average adult should be able to see. If you imagine a typical eye test chart the 20:20 vision is probably only the line second from the bottom. The line below it is even smaller than 20:20 vision and would mean you have 20:16 vision. So don’t be so impressed next time someone tells you they have 20:20 vision!
10. Your eyes water when they are dry
I know this might sound crazy but this is one of strange facts about your eyes. Your tears are made up of 3 different components and they are water, mucus and fat. If these 3 components are not in exactly the right quantities, your eyes can become dry as a consequence. Your brain responds to this dryness by producing extra water and hence your eyes water.
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
tennis for blind
Blind Tennis? As we know the Japanese people was an expert in making a weird and bizarre things. this blind tennis was a sport for the blind people. The blind people could track the ball movement with their ears, the ball used for this blind tennis is different from the usual tennis sport.
The creation of this sport is largely credited to Miyoshi Takei, who in spite of his blindness, started to play tennis as a kid with the encouragement of his high school teacher. His only aim at the time was to hit a ball that was flying through the air as hard as he could, even though he couldn’t see it. After several trials, he finally invented a special kind of tennis ball that is spongy and light in weight. The ball rattles, so that blind players can track its movement with their ears. Miyoshi’s endeavors met with success and the first national blind tennis championships were held in Japan in the year 1990. Today, hundreds of Japanese players take part every year and a few from other countries too, such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Britain and the United States.
Interestingly, blind tennis is played on a badminton court with string taped to the lines so players can feel the boundaries. Junior-sized rackets are used to hit the ball. Players who are deemed legally blind wear eye masks to level the field. They are expected to hit the ball after it bounces two to three times, depending on the level of their visual impairment. Sadly, Miyoshi is no longer alive to see the progress made by the sport he invented. He passed away a year ago, at the age of 42, when he was returning home with his blind wife and fell in front of an oncoming train in Tokyo. He is considered a role model for aspiring blind tennis players around the world. Beside this blind tennis there's another sports for blind people such as this Blind Soccer.
The creation of this sport is largely credited to Miyoshi Takei, who in spite of his blindness, started to play tennis as a kid with the encouragement of his high school teacher. His only aim at the time was to hit a ball that was flying through the air as hard as he could, even though he couldn’t see it. After several trials, he finally invented a special kind of tennis ball that is spongy and light in weight. The ball rattles, so that blind players can track its movement with their ears. Miyoshi’s endeavors met with success and the first national blind tennis championships were held in Japan in the year 1990. Today, hundreds of Japanese players take part every year and a few from other countries too, such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Britain and the United States.
Interestingly, blind tennis is played on a badminton court with string taped to the lines so players can feel the boundaries. Junior-sized rackets are used to hit the ball. Players who are deemed legally blind wear eye masks to level the field. They are expected to hit the ball after it bounces two to three times, depending on the level of their visual impairment. Sadly, Miyoshi is no longer alive to see the progress made by the sport he invented. He passed away a year ago, at the age of 42, when he was returning home with his blind wife and fell in front of an oncoming train in Tokyo. He is considered a role model for aspiring blind tennis players around the world. Beside this blind tennis there's another sports for blind people such as this Blind Soccer.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
amazing boy
Posted By MJ On March 1, 2011 @ 7:34 pm In Cover Stories,Features CLICK HERE to print________________________________________Daniel Kish has been sightless since he was a year old. Yet he can mountain bike. And navigate the wilderness alone. And recognize a building as far away as 1,000 feet. How? The same way bats can see in the dark.by Michael Finkelphotograph by Steve PykeThe first thing Daniel Kish does, when I pull up to his tidy gray bungalow in Long Beach, California, is make fun of my driving. “You’re going to leave it that far from the curb?” he asks. He’s standing on his stoop, a good 10 paces from my car. I glance behind me as I walk up to him. I am, indeed, parked about a foot and a half from the curb.The second thing Kish does, in his living room a few minutes later, is remove his prosthetic eyeballs. He does this casually, like a person taking off a smudged pair of glasses. The prosthetics are thin convex shells, made of acrylic plastic, with light brown irises. A couple of times a day they need to be cleaned. “They get gummy,” he explains. Behind them is mostly scar tissue. He wipes them gently with a white cloth and places them back in.Kish was born with an aggressive form of cancer called retinoblastoma, which attacks the retinas. To save his life, both of his eyes were removed by the time he was 13 months old. Since his infancy — Kish is now 44 — he has been adapting to his blindness in such remarkable ways that some people have wondered if he’s playing a grand practical joke. But Kish, I can confirm, is completely blind.He knew my car was poorly parked because he produced a brief, sharp click with his tongue. The sound waves he created traveled at a speed of more than 1,000 feet per second, bounced off every object around him, and returned to his ears at the same rate, though vastly decreased in volume.But not silent. Kish has trained himself to hear these slight echoes and to interpret their meaning. Standing on his front stoop, he could visualize, with an extraordinary degree of precision, the two pine trees on his front lawn, the curb at the edge of his street, and finally, a bit too far from that curb, my rental car. Kish has given a name to what he does — he calls it “FlashSonar” — but it’s more commonly known by its scientific term, echolocation.Bats, of course, use echolocation. Beluga whales too. Dolphins. And Daniel Kish. He is so accomplished at echolocation that he’s able to pedal his mountain bike through streets heavy with traffic and on precipitous dirt trails. He climbs trees. He camps out, by himself, deep in the wilderness. He’s lived for weeks at a time in a tiny cabin a two-mile hike from the nearest road. He travels around the globe. He’s a skilled cook, an avid swimmer, a fluid dance partner. Essentially, though in a way that is unfamiliar to nearly any other human being, Kish can see.This is not enough for him. Kish is seeking — despite a lack of support from every mainstream blind organization in America — nothing less than a profound reordering of the way the world views blind people, and the way blind people view the world. He’s tired of being told that the blind are best served by staying close to home, sticking only to memorized routes, and depending on the unreliable benevolence of the sighted to do anything beyond the most routine of tasks.Kish preaches complete and unfettered independence, even if the result produces the occasional bloody gash or broken bone. (He once fractured the heel of his left foot after leaping from a rock and has broken a couple of teeth.) He’s regarded by some in the blind community with deep veneration. Others, like a commenter on the National Federation of the Blind’s listserv, consider him “disgraceful” for promoting behavior such as tongue clicking that could be seen as off-putting and abnormal.Kish and a handful of coworkers run a nonprofit organization called World Access for the Blind, headquartered in Kish’s home. World Access offers training on how to gracefully interact with one’s environment, using echolocation as a primary tool. So far, in the decade it has existed, the organization has introduced more than 500 students to echolocation. Kish is not the first blind person to use echolocation, but he’s the only one to meticulously document it, to break it down into its component parts, and to figure out how to teach it. His dream is to help all sight-impaired people see the world as clearly as he does.—- Kish, here biking in Long Beach, preaches total independence. Photo courtesy Daniel KishIt begins with the lid of a pot. “Stand up,” Kish instructs, then guides me to the center of his living room and ties a blindfold around my head, while mentioning, in a schoolteachery tone, that I should not for an instant think that wearing a blindfold represents the experience of being blind. A blindfold almost always causes someone who can see to feel frightened, confused, and disoriented. Kish is none of these things.“Now wait here,” he says. Though he was born and raised in Southern California, Kish has an odd, almost foreign-sounding accent — a bouillabaisse of Canadian, British, and relaxed Los Angeleno. He says it’s a result of his many travels. “I’m a natural mimic,” he explains. Kish is 5-foot-7, thin and fit, with an impressive mane of dark brown hair and a meandering winestain birthmark on his left cheek.I hear him walk into his kitchen, his bare feet padding faintly on the hardwood floor. “I’m very particular about feeling life and air around my feet,” he once wrote in the journal he braille-typed and shared with me. I’m barefoot as well. Kish asked me to remove my shoes, which is one of his many little rules you quickly learn to adopt. Like: He’s Daniel Kish, and anyone who calls him “Dan” more than once may be struck with withering disdain. And don’t disturb him during his sleep time — lately, he’s been sleeping just two hours twice a day, usually from 5 to 7 in the morning and again from 5 to 7 in the evening. He often stays up all night dealing with World Access logistics. He lives alone and does not have a significant other. He plays a lot of Celtic hymnal music.I listen as Kish opens a cabinet and rummages amid his pots. He returns and stands behind me. “Make a click,” he says.It’s a terrible click, a sloppy click; what Kish calls a “clucky click.” Kish’s click is a thing of beauty — he snaps the tip of his tongue briefly and firmly against the roof of his mouth, creating a momentary vacuum that pops upon release, a sound very much like pushing the igniter on a gas stove. A team of Spanish scientists recently studied Kish’s click and deemed it acoustically ideal for capturing echoes. A machine, they wrote, could do no better.My click will work for now. Kish tells me that he’s holding a large glass lid, the top to a Crock-Pot, a few inches in front of me. “Click again,” he says. There’s a distinct echo, a smearing of sound as if I’m standing in my shower. “Now click,” he says. The echo’s gone. “I’ve lifted it up. Can you tell?”I can, quite clearly. “Click again,” he instructs. “Where is it?” I click; there’s no echo.“It’s still lifted,” I say.“Try again,” says Kish. “But move your head, listen to your environment.”I turn my head to the right and click. Nothing. Then I click to the left. Bingo. “It’s over here,” I say, tilting my head in the direction of the lid.“Exactly,” says Kish. “Now let’s try it with a pillow.”There are two reasons echolocation works. The first is that our ears, conveniently, are located on both sides of our head. When there’s a noise off to one side, the sound reaches the closer ear about a millisecond — a thousandth of a second — before it reaches the farther ear. That’s enough of a gap for the auditory cortex of our brain to process the information. It’s rare that we turn the wrong way when someone calls our name. In fact, we’re able to process, with phenomenal accuracy, sounds just a few degrees off-center. Having two ears, like having two eyes, also gives us the auditory equivalent of depth perception. We hear in stereo 3-D. This allows us, using only our ears, to build a detailed map of our surroundings.The second reason echolocation works is that humans, on average, have excellent hearing. We hear better than we see. Much better. On the light spectrum, human eyes can perceive only a small sliver of all the varieties of light — no ultraviolet, no infrared. Converting this to sound terminology, we can see less than one octave of frequency. We hear a range of 10 octaves.We can also hear behind us; we can hear around corners. Sight can’t do this. Human hearing is so good that if you have decent hearing, you will never once in your life experience true silence. Even if you sit completely still in a soundproof room, you will detect the beating of your own heart.—-Kish does not go around clicking like a madman. He uses his click sparingly and, depending on his location, varies the volume. When he’s outside, he’ll throw a loud click. In good conditions, he can hear a building 1,000 feet away, a tree from 30 feet, a person from six feet. Up close, he can echolocate a one-inch diameter pole. He can tell the difference between a pickup truck, a passenger car, and an SUV. He can locate trail signs in the forest, then run his finger across the engraved letters and determine which path to take. Every house, he explains, has its own acoustic signature.He can hear the variation between a wall and a bush and a chain-link fence. Bounce a tennis ball off a wall, Kish says, then off a bush. Different response. So too with sound. Given a bit of time, he can echolocate something as small as a golf ball. Sometimes, in a parking garage, he can echolocate the exit faster than a sighted person can find it.I accompanied Kish on several occasions as he cruised the busy streets of Long Beach. The outside world is an absolute cacophony. Every car, person, dog, stroller, and bicycle makes a sound. So do gusts of wind, bits of blowing garbage, and rustling leaves. Doors open and close. Change jangles. People talk. Then there are the silent obstacles — what Kish calls urban furniture: benches, traffic signs, telephone poles, postal boxes, fire hydrants, light posts, parked vehicles. Kish hears the sonic reflections from his click even in a place teeming with ambient noise. “It’s like recognizing a familiar voice in a crowd,” he says. The load upon his mind is undoubtedly immense. Yet he casually processes everything, constructing and memorizing a mental map of his route, all while maintaining an intricate conversation with me. It’s so extraordinary that it seems to border on the magical.When we walk into a restaurant — never a simple choice with Kish, since he’s a strict vegan — he makes a much quieter click. Kish describes the images he receives as akin to a brief flick of the lights in a dark room; you get enough essential information — tables here, stairway there, support pillars here — to navigate your way through. “It becomes as ridiculous for blind people to run into a wall as it is for sighted people,” he once wrote in his FlashSonar manual. He strolls casually across the restaurant, making one or two more clicks as we approach our table, then sits down. It’s both smooth and subtle. Kish says that it is rare a sighted person even notices he’s making an unusual noise. Almost all blind people instantly do.What people do notice about Kish is his long white cane. His blind person’s cane. Using echolocation, Kish could get around without one. For most of his youth, in fact, he never carried a cane, seeking to avoid the stigma attached to it. Now, as he approaches middle age, he’s come to believe that whatever can conveniently provide him with more information about his environment he will use. Echolocation’s chief liability is that it is not good at detecting holes in the ground, or small dropoffs, which a cane can do. There are also some figure-ground issues with echolocation — a park bench can “disappear” when it’s directly in front of a stone wall — and a cane, in essence, increases the length of your arm by as much as five feet.Kish also keeps aware, during the day, of where the sun is striking him — a good way to determine direction — and how the cracks between sidewalk blocks line up; if you remain steadily perpendicular to them, you’re not veering.When it’s all put together, says Kish, he has very rich, very detailed pictures in his head.“In color?” I ask.“No,” he says. “I’ve never seen color, so there’s no color. It’s more like a sonar, like on the Titanic.”—- At his high school graduation in 1984, Kish was voted "most likely to succeed." Photo courtesy Daniel KishKish can hardly remember a time when he didn’t click. He came to it on his own, intuitively, at age two, about a year after his second eye was removed. Many blind children make noises in order to get feedback — foot stomping, finger snapping, hand clapping, tongue clicking. These behaviors are the beginnings of echolocation, but they’re almost invariably deemed asocial by parents or caretakers and swiftly extinguished. Kish was fortunate that his mother never tried to dissuade him from clicking. “That tongue click was everything to me,” he says.He has a vivid recollection of sneaking out his bedroom window in the middle of the night, at age two and a half, and climbing over a fence into his neighbor’s yard. “I was in the habit of exploring whatever I sensed around me,” he writes in his journal. He soon wondered what was in the yard of the next house. And the one after that. “I was on the other side of the block before someone discovered me prowling around their backyard and had the police return me home to completely flummoxed parents.”Kish was born in Montebello, California, into a difficult family situation. His younger brother, Keith, was also born with retinoblastoma — it’s genetic, though neither of Kish’s parents had the disease. Doctors managed to save enough of Keith’s eyesight so that he doesn’t need echolocation. He’s now a middle school English teacher. Kish’s father, who worked as an automobile mechanic, was a physically abusive alcoholic, and his mother left him when Kish was six.“I was a violent kid,” says Kish. He frequently got into fistfights. “I rarely lost. My strategy consisted of immobilizing opponents before they could hit me too often.” He went to mainstream schools and relied almost exclusively on echolocation to orient himself, though at the time neither he nor his mom had any concept of what he was doing. “There was no one to explain it, there was no one to help me enhance it, and we all just kind of took it for granted,” he says. “My family and friends were like, ‘Yeah, he does this funny click thing and he gets around.’ ” They called it his radar. Navigating new places, he says, was like solving a puzzle.He rode his bike with wild abandon. “I used to go to the top of a hill and scream ‘Dive bomb!’ and ride down as fast as I could,” he says. This is when he was eight. The neighborhood kids would scatter. “One day I lost control of the bicycle, crashed through these trash cans, and smashed into a metal light pole. It was a violent collision. I had blood all over my face. I picked myself up and went home.”He was raised with almost no dispensation for his blindness. “My upbringing was all about total self-reliance,” he writes, “of being able to go after anything I desired.” His career interests, as a boy, included policeman, fireman, pilot, and doctor. He was a celebrated singer and voracious consumer of braille books. He could take anything apart and put it back together — a skill he retains. Once, when I was driving Kish to an appointment with a student, the GPS unit in my car stopped working. Kish examined the unit with his hands, instructed me from the passenger seat how to get to the nearest Radio Shack, and told me which part to buy (the jack on the power cord was faulty). He was named “best brain” in middle school and graduated high school with a GPA close to 4.0. He was voted “most likely to succeed.”He attended the University of California Riverside, then earned two master’s degrees — one in developmental psychology, one in special education. He wrote a thesis on the history and science of human echolocation, and as part of that devised one of the first echolocation training programs. The ability of some blind individuals to perceive objects well before they could touch them was noted as early as 1749 by French philosopher Denis Diderot. He theorized it had something to do with vibrations against the skin of the face. In the early 1800s, a blind man from England named James Holman journeyed around the world — he may have been the most prolific traveler in history up to that point, Magellan and Marco Polo included — relying on the echoes from the click of his cane. Not until the 1940s, in Karl Dallenbach’s lab at Cornell University, was it irrefutably proven that humans could echolocate.The thesis was the first time Kish really studied what he’d been doing all his life; it was the beginning, as he put it, of “unlocking my own brain.” He then became the first totally blind person in the United States (and likely the world) to be fully certified as an orientation and mobility specialist — that is, someone hired by the visually impaired to learn how to get around.—- Kish teaching echolocation. Photo courtesy Daniel KishIt was never Kish’s goal to run a foundation dedicated to the blind. He planned to be a psychologist. But he could not ignore the fact that few blind people enjoyed anything close to his freedom of movement, and he had grown weary of society’s attitude toward the blind. “I am belittled, patronized, disrespected, invaded, restricted, and presumed weak, vulnerable, or otherwise incapacitated,” he wrote in his journal. It still drives him crazy when he’s congratulated for simply crossing the street or preparing dinner.In a letter he posted on his website a few years ago, Kish responded to a public school program in New Jersey called Kindness Beats Blindness, in which hundreds of middle school students were blindfolded while others led them around, to develop sympathy for the blind. “I have felt beaten and pummeled by many things,” he wrote, “misplaced kindness foremost among them.” When I asked Kish about the letter he said, “I have a reputation for being a pain in the ass.” One of his closest friends sometimes refers to him as “the bridge burner.”Young people, says Kish, are especially hard-hit. “Most blind kids hear a lot of negative talk. ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t move. No, here, let me help you.’ The message you get, if you’re blind, is you’re intellectually deficient, you’re emotionally deficient, you’re in all ways deficient.” A few sighted people have commented to Kish that they’d rather be dead than blind.So in 2001 he started World Access for the Blind. One of its missions is to counter every no that blind people hear. Blindness, Kish says, should be understood — by both the blind and the sighted — as nothing more than an inconvenience. “Most of my life,” he writes, “I never even thought of myself as blind. In fact, I saw myself as smarter, more agile, stronger, and generally more capable than most other boys my age.”World Access operates on what Kish calls “an annual budget of silliness” — less than $200,000 a year. (Kish himself makes only “a survival wage.”) He depends on the “blind vine,” the chattery network of the visually impaired, to spread the word. When a potential student, or a parent of a student, agrees to hire World Access, either Kish or one of three other World Access teachers — all blind or visually impaired — will pay a visit, whether it’s on the other side of Los Angeles or the other side of the world.Lessons can consist of private meetings a few times a month, or an intensive week of training for students farther afield. He’s visited a group of blind students in northern Mexico three times and traveled to Scotland eight times. In all, Kish has taught in 14 countries, including Armenia, South Africa, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Blind students or organizations in more than a dozen other nations, from Afghanistan to Guatemala, are now on his waiting list. The chief focus of World Access classes is setting students on the path to complete autonomy. Echolocation is an essential element of what Kish terms “a holistic approach” that also includes lessons on comfortable social interactions, confident self-image, and nonvisual conversational cues (a head turn can be noted by the sound of hair swishing; arm gestures by the whisper of skin brushing against clothing; the shift of someone’s body by the creaking of furniture).World Access doesn’t turn anyone away for lack of resources. But there are a couple of reasons why the organization hasn’t trained more students. The first is Kish’s general ethos about how blind children should be raised. “Running into a pole is a drag, but never being allowed to run into a pole is a disaster,” he writes. “Pain is part of the price of freedom.” This attitude is not wildly popular, especially in a safety-first nation like the United States. Also, echolocation is not easy to master. Kish compares it with piano lessons — anyone can learn basics; very few will make it to Carnegie Hall. Only about 10 percent of the people who learn echolocation, he admits, find their abilities immediately enriched.And then there is resistance from mainstream organizations. The National Federation of the Blind, the largest blind organization in America, does not endorse Kish’s work. “Let’s just say he’s unique,” says John Paré, the federation’s executive director for strategic initiatives, clearly straining to be polite. Paré believes that for most people, echolocation is not worth the tremendous effort required to grasp it. “We urge people to learn how to use a long white cane,” he says. According to Kish, a colleague once overheard members of the federation refer to him as Clicker Boy. “The blindness field is firmly based in tradition and dogma and is very slow to evolve,” says Kish. “It’s been traditionally dominated by sighted people who feel the need to tell blind people what to do.”The same afternoon I first visit Kish, I also meet Brian Bushway and Juan Ruiz. Bushway became blind at age 14 due to a genetic condition known as optic nerve atrophy and was introduced to Kish soon after. Ruiz was born blind and was one of Kish’s first students; Kish began working with him while preparing his echolocation thesis. They both told me, individually, that Kish’s teaching transformed them, allowing them to feel at peace with their blindness and at one with the world.Bushway and Ruiz are now in their late 20s and have become instructors with World Access. They often hang out at Kish’s home, forming a foul-mouthed and funny little gang. (Bushway: “You know why echolocators get all the girls? ’Cause they’re skilled with their tongues and comfortable in the dark.”) They’ve become so adept at echolocation that, in many ways, they have surpassed their teacher — at least in terms of fearlessness, sociability, and willingness to run into poles. They’re the next generation of echolocators, ready to take Kish’s work and see how far they can push it.————————————————————————-—-If you happen to be blind and want to live a bold, stereotype-smashing life, there will be blood. I witness this firsthand when I spend a day mountain biking with Bushway and Ruiz. (Kish, acceding to the realities of near–middle age, stays home.) We ride on a roller-coastery ridgetop trail in the Santa Ana Mountains, above the town of Mission Viejo. Clipped to the rear fork of each of our bikes is a plastic zip tie, attached so that the end flicks through our spokes, creating a constant snapping sound that lets Bushway and Ruiz know where the other bikes are. But to determine where the trail is going, and where the bushes and rocks and fence posts and trees are, the boys rely on echolocation.Bushway is a fearless biker. He often flies down the dirt trail in aerodynamic form, hands off the brakes, clicking as fast and as loud as he can. “Your brain is on overload,” he says to me during a water break. “You feel like you can hear every bush, every tree. Your body is hyperaware.” I try and warn them when the trail presents a serious consequence, like a long drop-off on one side or a cactus jutting out. But mostly I’m just along for the ride. It’s difficult to believe, even though it’s happening right in front of me. It’s incredible.And then, suddenly, it’s not. When I look behind me and see that Ruiz has drifted back, I stop and wait for him. I’m just standing there, silently, and before I realize what’s happening, he is bearing down on me. I shout, and he pulls the brakes, but it’s too late. He smashes into me and crushes his left hand between his handlebar and the back of my seat post. He falls off his bike and rolls about in pain, clutching his hand. There’s a trickle of blood, though nothing seems broken. I feel terrible, but Ruiz says it’s his fault — he should have echolocated my bike, even if I wasn’t moving. We finish the ride, with Ruiz using only one hand.The next day I join Kish and Bushway as they teach Sebastian Mancipe, who is 15 and has been working with World Access for three years. When he started, he rarely came out of his bedroom. He had little interaction with the outside world. He developed infant glaucoma and was blind by age three months. His parents moved from Colombia to the United States to give him a chance at a better life. His mother, Viviana, saw a brief appearance by Kish on the Ripley’s Believe It or Not television show, and soon hired World Access to work with Sebastian.He now rides a skateboard. He ice-skates. He’s popular at school, stocked with friends and a busy social life. I follow as Kish and Bushway stroll around Sebastian’s neighborhood, in a busy section of Burbank. He’d obviously mastered the echolocation basics — the pot lid, the pillow, general shapes. Kish and Bushway encourage him to push his skills further. “A tree,” says Kish, clicking a couple of times, “is like a bush on a pole.” They walk on. “A tree without a bush on top is probably a telephone pole.” They pass a parking lot. “A large object that starts out low at one end, rises in the middle, and drops off again at the other end — that’s a parked car.”Back at home, I ask Sebastian’s mother about the impact World Access has had on her son. “It was an awakening,” she says. “He believes he can do anything. To see Sebastian as a normal child…” She can’t complete the sentence before the tears come.—-The longer the waiting list for his services grows, the more conflicted Kish feels. He knows what he’s doing is important. But what he really wants, as more people clamor for his time, as the frequent-flier miles add up, is to hand over the reins of World Access and run away from it all.He’s essentially a loner. “My constitution,” he says, “is that of Grizzly Adams.” In 2003 he purchased a 12-foot by 12-foot cabin deep in the Angeles National Forest. It was built in 1916; he paid $10,000 for it. To get there he’d take a taxi to the end of the road and hike in. “My only company,” he wrote in his journal at the time, “is a small family of mice.” He explored the wilderness. “I taught myself how to negotiate tricky, winding trails with sharp switchbacks, how to cross rushing streams on slippery stones. I’ve gone for miles and days without meeting another soul.”He was once asked by a colleague what he thought the biggest problem was with being blind. “My biggest barrier is people,” he answered. “Especially sighted people.” He has never once in his life had a girlfriend or, for that matter, a boyfriend. When I ask him, via e-mail, to explain why, his response is three words: “Lack of interest.”Two tragedies, nearly 20 years apart, have bookended his adult life. The first was the death of his dog, a black lab named Whiska. This was in 1990. She was run over by a car while Kish was walking with her. Kish has always blamed himself for the accident. “I loved Whiska with an intensity that completely distorted my better judgment,” he wrote. “I spoiled her rotten and took over her job. She forgot to watch for traffic, because I’d always done that for her.” He had nightmares for a year after the accident. “The chain’s just dangling and there’s no dog. I’ll never forget that moment.” Not long after, he got another dog, but soon started traveling and gave him away. That was his last pet.The second tragedy occurred in January 2007 when his cabin burned down. He’d had a wood-burning stove installed, and the wrong materials were used for the chimney. The fire was fast-moving and horrific — “my last memories of my cabin are the ominous crackle and rumble of advancing flames” — and Kish had no idea if it would engulf the entire canyon, incinerating him as well. The disaster haunts him; he keeps a chunk of melted glass from the cabin in his home in Long Beach. “A piece of my own heart has gone up in flames,” he wrote. He plans to one day return to the woods, perhaps permanently. “I find people,” he says, “to be incredibly draining.”—-Kish has an idea. Beyond the pot lid and the pillow, beyond the mission of World Access, there is something he has been quietly working on for more than a decade. If his wish is fulfilled — if someone else takes over World Access and he’s able to escape from life’s perpetual rush hour — it may prove to be his true legacy. What Kish envisions is the next leap in human echolocation. His idea is to become more like a bat.Bats are the best. Some can fly in complete darkness, navigating around thousands of other bats while nabbing insects one millimeter wide. Bats have evolved, over millions of years, to possess the ideal mouth shape and the perfect ear rotation for echolocation. They can perceive high-frequency sound waves, beyond the range of human hearing — waves that are densely packed together, whose echoes give precise detail.There is evidence that humans could be that good. Bats have tiny brains. Just the auditory cortex of a human brain is many times larger than the entire brain of a bat. This means that humans can likely process more complex auditory information than bats. What we’ll require, to make up for bats’ evolutionary head start, is a little artificial boost.Actually, two boosts. We need a way to create batlike sound waves, and we need to be able to hear those waves. In pursuit of these goals, Kish has spent time in New Zealand with Leslie Kay, who worked on underwater sonar for the British Navy during the Cold War. For nearly 50 years, Kay tinkered with ideas for helping the blind to see with sound. He eventually introduced, after many weeks of consultation with Kish, a product called the K-Sonar, a flashlight-size machine that attaches to a blind person’s cane and emits ultrasonic pulses. The pulses are then digitally translated into tones humans can hear, through earphones. “Flowers actually sound soft,” says Kish. “Stones sound hard and crisp. It pretty much represents the physical environment as music.” The problem is range: The K-Sonar can detect a postage stamp from 15 feet, but not the side of a barn from 30 feet.If money were no object, Kish believes that blind people could essentially mimic bats within five years. A next generation of K-Sonar, using the input from a global consortium of scientists that Kish has been corresponding with, should have a nearly limitless range. Our hearing, Kish says, can be increased tenfold through surgical augmentation — basically, inner-ear microphone implants. Combine the two and it’s possible that the blind will be able to take up tennis. Kish figures it would require $15 million to prove whether or not his idea is feasible. He fears he’ll never get the opportunity.“It’s virtually impossible to gather funding for experimental devices for the blind,” he says. “The blind population is seen as a lost cause.” Kish’s patience is running thin. He is still reaching out to scientists and studying scholarly journals and pondering ways to conjure the money. But more and more these days, he finds himself daydreaming about rebuilding his cabin and devoting himself to playing music, to writing. Let the new crop of echolocators take over the research and the networking and the panhandling. So for the foreseeable future, at least, Kish will continue to click in his usual way. And the sighted world will c
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