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You can make this adorable, tactile book for Valentine’s Day, but you’ll love to read it year-round. Books with textured illustrations you can touch help children who are visually impaired build tactile skills, which are important for understanding their environment and eventually learning braille. They also teach the concept of turning the pages of a book. Learn how to make this Love Bug book HERE.

It’s never too early to start reading to your baby or toddler. Reading together out loud encourages language and concept development, which are especially important for a child who is visually impaired to gain access to the visual world. 

To get started, try one of these easy tips HERE, in English or Spanish.

Looking for book ideas? Choose books that relate to your child’s own experiences, such as familiar routines like dressing or brushing teeth, and books you can pair with real objects or have tactile illustrations.

Rolling is a big step in human sensory development as a child builds an internal sense of their body and how they can move to achieve a goal. Why is this skill important?

• Rolling over is the first time babies experience independent mobility. It also prepares them for movement milestones to come.

• Rolling over helps babies strengthen muscles that are necessary for other movements, like pulling themselves up.



• Rolling over helps develop two important senses: vestibular (balance) and proprioceptive (body awareness). 



Rolling is harder for a very young child who is blind or has low vision because without vision as a motivator they must use their other senses to develop the curiosity to move toward an object. Also, rolling over might feel uncomfortable or scary for them.

With your physical therapist and your EI-TVI, HERE is an activity to help your child grow more comfortable and confident learning to roll.

Valentine’s Day is almost here and you might be seeing a lot of red! Hearts are red and so are many Valentine’s Day cards and candies.

In fact, every holiday seems to have its own color. Pink and yellow for Easter, red and green for Christmas. And it’s not just seasonal. Colors are everywhere in the sighted world.

How do you explain colors to a child who is blind or visually impaired so they have meaning? Here are five tips from Deborah Kent with the National Braille Press.

1. Never Be Afraid to Talk About Colors.

Talking about color is not upsetting to your child, even though it may be troubling to you at first. If your child has never seen color, they don’t miss it — but your child is bound to be curious. Encourage that curiosity!

2. Refer to Color in Everyday Conversation.

Help your child understand that color is an aspect of nearly every object and substance in the world. You can say: "Here's a nice red apple," or "Put on your pretty green wool mittens." When you ask, "What color is your coat," your child will proudly say, "It's blue!"

3. Think About Color as Information.

"Roses are red, violets are blue . . ." Even though a child who has never seen cannot understand color in the same way, they can learn what color objects are in the world. At Halloween, your child can easily learn that pumpkins are orange. But don't go crazy! Knowing what color every toy in his toy box is would be boring!

4. Attach Emotions and Feelings to Color.

Help your child understand color by relating it to their other senses. You might describe red as a hot, loud color; white as smooth and quiet; black as shiny; or blue as the notes of a saxophone. A blind blogger once wrote, “Yellow is buttery and rich, like sunshine on your face.”



5. Save the Subtleties of Color for Later.

Explain the subtleties of color when the child is older. Apples can be green as well as red; the sky can be blue or gray, depending on the weather; the water in a glass is colorless (clear), but the ocean "looks" blue.