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The information in this article is specific to the United States. If you live in another country, legislation and available services may differ significantly.
In the United States, blind children are eligible for special education services from infancy until graduation or age 22, whichever comes first. This article provides a general overview of the services available for new families of blind children.
Early intervention programs are designed to help blind children achieve early milestones and begin learning about basic concepts. Blind children under the age of three may receive services from teachers of visually impaired students (TVI), orientation and mobility instructors (O&M), occupational therapists (OT), physical therapists (PT), or all of the above. Teachers and therapists may come to the blind child's home, or the blind child may go to a school or early intervention facility. Some teachers and therapists will even work with child care providers.
The services each blind child receives and the goals she is working toward are listed in a document called the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP). Parents should be active in developing this plan. Some practical information is available on the IEP page. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are similar to IFSPs; however, they apply to older children. The process of preparing for an IEP meeting is very similar to the process of preparing for an IFSP meeting.
TVIs and O&M instructors work to help children learn to use any vision they have and their other senses to learn about the environment and their relationship to it. TVIs also help the blind child to learn self-help skills and basic concepts which will be necessary later. These include concepts such as left and right, top and bottom, inside and outside, etc.
Occupational therapists work with children to develop skills such as feeding themselves and manipulating objects with their hands. These skills are called fine motor skills. Physical therapists work with children on gross motor skills, such as crawling and walking. Some children also receive services from a speech/language therapist (SLT). SLTs help children to develop appropriate pronunciation and use of language. Some may also help if children have difficulty with chewing.
Many school-age blind children attend local schools and participate in activities with sighted peers. TVIs may come into the classroom to assist with certain activities which are visual in nature. Blind children may learn to read braille with the TVI in the classroom or may go to another location to work with the TVI where there are fewer distractions. It is important to note that not all blind children will need to learn braille. More information is available in "The Great Debate".
As the blind child grows older, O&M instructors help him to learn how to travel independently in various environments. By the time he graduates from high school, he should be able to travel in busy areas and use transportation services such as taxis, paratransit, or buses to get to his destination. Some schools provide O&M as a related service and do not see the importance of lessons off campus. O&M services may be unavilable to students who can navigate independently in school. You may nneed to advocate for your child's needs in these and other situations.
Educational services for blind children is a broad topic. The discussions here provide a very basic introduction. More information is available from a variety of resources. The page for parents of blind children on this site provides additional links to sources of support and information.This site is graciously hosted by LinuxPowered.