Learning Without Sight, Part I

A friend recently asked me how I learned to do everything I can do now, since I lost my sight shortly after birth. How did I learn to sit, walk, feed myself, drink from a cup, brush my teeth, dress myself; all those things that sighted people take for granted because they can see what their parent points to as the parent explains what it is? Looking back, it seems like such a long time ago, although Mom says it feels like “just yesterday” to her. She says time passes much faster as you get older!

I’ll let my mom tell you about my youngest years, the things I learned before my memory kicked in. Mom, what do you recall about those younger years?

Mom: As a first time parent I was very naïve. I just knew that things such as crawling, sitting up and walking would come to Nicki, probably a little later since she was a “preemie”. Even when she was 6 months, then 9 months, I still hoped it was just a delayed response.

I never stopped to think that many of the things we do are based on vision. As babies, we see our parents sit, walk and move about, and we learn from watching them. Also, much of the learning process comes from curiosity, like “Oh, what is that on the other side of the room,” or “I want that bright colored object on the table.”

I had to go through the learning process with Nicki, and find ways to help her learn without those visual tools.

When she was one, I enrolled her in an early intervention program designed to help children with cognitive deficiencies. The teachers there were very supportive and showed me techniques that I could use at home to help Nicki develop her upper body strength. She did not have the upper body strength to hold her head up.

They started with simple things like having her lie on her stomach and dangling things with bells and sounds above her to make her hold up her head.

After she gained some head control, we began working on her sitting. At first, the only way she could keep her balance was to sit in a W position, with her feet twisted behind her. This wasn’t good for her hamstrings, so we had to work out of that and into an Indian type of sitting position. She was probably 1 ½ before she could sit up well. That is also the time when we found out Nicki had CP. The pediatrician never mentioned the possibility and kept telling me that she would catch up. It wasn’t until her teachers began to notice subtle signs and alerted me. I took her to a pediatric neurologist who did a CT scan and confirmed that she did indeed have CP. Knowing that she had other issues besides blindness allowed her teachers and I to take a new approach in helping her learn.

When she could sit up well, we began to work on drinking and eating. At first, because of her CP, she couldn’t grip things well and had to use special utensils with handles that were larger and curved. We used small cups for drinking and put just a small amount of liquid in. For eating and drinking alike, we used a hand-over-hand technique where a person would stand behind her, put their hand over hers with either the cup or utensil, and actually guide her hand to her mouth.

We also began working on her hand strength by having her manipulate silly putty and play dough. I could hardly contain myself the first time I saw her drink from a cup and actually set it back down on a table! It was amazing! And she didn’t spill a drop!

Then we had to start working on walking. We started with knee standing, and worked up from there. She could walk holding onto tables and furniture, but could never walk independently. She now uses a walker to get around and has had surgery on her legs to release the tension in her hamstrings and hip flexors.

I remember a very happy milestone I would like to share. When she was around 2 1/2, I went to pick her up one day after school. I found her and her teacher sitting in the room, her in her Indian style position with a large sombrero on her head. She had her head down, and immediately I began to tell her to hold her head up. But she was doing it for a reason. As I got closer her teacher said something to her in Spanish and she lifted her head and said “Si, Senior.” It was the cutest thing! He taught her quite a bit of Spanish before she was 3 and had to move on to pre-kindergarten.

Nicki: Unfortunately, I don’t remember any of those cute or messy moments. The things that really stick in my mind are after I started pre-K, but that will have to wait for next time. Please join me as I share with you my early years. Until next time, stay safe, healthy and happy!!