Touch and feeling

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HealthWiki > Helping Children Who Are Blind > Chapter 11: Helping Your Child Know Where She Is (Orientation) > Touch and feeling

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

To know where she is, your child needs to learn to notice the shape, weight, and texture of objects around her. She also needs to learn to pay attention to the feel of the ground under her feet and the way temperature can change as she moves from place to place.

To help your child develop her sense of touch

Throughout the day, encourage your child to touch objects of different sizes, weights, and textures. Ask her to describe what she feels. You can then place different objects and textures around the house to help your child know where she is.

Fiam, feel this blanket. What does it feel like?

Soft, just like my dress.

Encourage your child to walk barefoot on different kinds of ground — for example, on dirt, grass, and gravel — so she can learn how each one feels. If she wears shoes, she can then put them on and see how the ground feels different. When she is walking outside, this information will help her know where she is or help her stay on a path.

What does the ground feel like, Olanike?

Teach your child how to use her
feet to feel for differences in
height, like at the edge of a
road or sidewalk.

Encourage your child to notice when the temperature changes as she moves from place to place.

When Ai-Ling feels the air get cool, she knows she is almost at the door to her home.

Clara knows that she should feel the sun on her back when she comes home from the market in the afternoon.

This page was updated:20 May 2021