Blind Childrens Center

4120 Marathon Street, Los Angeles, California 90029 (323)664-2153

A family-centered agency serving children with visual impairments

Dancing Cheek to Cheek

Nurturing beginning social, play, and language interactions

$10 Available in English only (33 pages)

From the booklet...
This booklet is based on four years of intensive research with babies with severe visual impairments and their parents. The babies were chosen to represent a typical group found in an infant program providing services to families with children with severe visual impairments. They had differing diagnoses, resulting in varying degrees of cognitive and motor handicaps. Their visual abilities also differed.

The goal of our research was to find techniques that parents and babies can use to successfully bypass some of the obstacles to the development of social, play and language skills that are the result of lack of vision. Over a period of several months, videotapes were made of early interactions in the home, both face-to-face and during early object exploration. We analyzed the tapes during research meetings and wrote up feedback to give to the parents. We began the next session by sitting down with the parents and watching the videotapes together. We discussed what kept the interaction going and what didn't seem to work. We worked out new social, play and language strategies together, tried them out and reviewed the new tapes to see which strategies were most effective. This booklet is a summary of our findings.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1. Dancing Cheek to Cheek: Beginning a Relationship With Your Baby
Getting to Know You
Taking Turns
Adding New Stuff to the Routine
Getting Down to Basics

Part 2. Dancing in a Shared World: Bringing Toys into Your Relationship With Your Baby
Introducing New Toys to Your Baby
Choosing the Best Toys for Your Baby
Making Toys a Part of Your Relationship With Your Baby
Getting Down to Basics

Part 3. Talking About the Dance: Helping Your Baby Learn Language
Talking Cheek to Cheek
Letting Your Baby Know That Things Have Names
Setting Up the Play So That It's Easy to Talk About
Making Sense of Your Baby's Words: Linking His Words to His Play
Getting Down to Basics

Blind Childrens Center

4120 Marathon Street, Los Angeles, California 90029 (323)664-2153

Blind Childrens Center

4120 Marathon Street Los Angeles, California 90029-3584 (323) 664-2153 • Fax (323) 665-3828

4120 Marathon Street
Los Angeles, California 90029-3584
(323) 664-2153 • Fax (323) 665-3828