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How to Teach Social Skills to Blind & Visually Impaired Children

Blind or visually impaired children can have a difficult time developing social skills. They do not have the benefit of visual cues that sighted children have, such as facial expressions and body language. Parents and other caregivers should make time to help them to develop these skills in a proactive way. There are methods you can use to teach social skills and empathy through using sensory abilities other than vision.

Instructions

    • 1

      Let the child explore your face with her hands as you make different expressions. This will help the child to understand the appropriate expression she should put on her face in different situations. For example, a visually impaired child who has never felt a smile on someone's face may not smile to show a friend that she is happy.

    • 2

      Use constructive criticism when the child makes a social mistake. Although it's easy to ignore the behavior of a blind or visually impaired child through misplaced sympathy, it's important that they learn the socially correct way to act. For example, when a visually impaired child grabs a toy from a peer, do not ignore the incident. Instead, discuss with the child the importance of sharing with others and help the child to act in a more socially appropriate manner.

    • 3

      Using your voice, demonstrate what various emotions sound like. The child cannot see the look on your face when you are angry or excited, but he can hear the emotion in your voice. Discuss these emotions with children so that they can read other people's voices as well.

    • 4

      Teach the child polite phrases that it will be important for her to use. For example, blind or visually impaired children often need to use the phrase "excuse me" more than other children, because they may bump into people more often. The same would be true with phrases like "please help me" or "it was an accident."

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