FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)

Lesson 19 : Designing for the Visually Impaired Children

Needs and Design Features

Cognitive Needs

• Strategies to compensate for the lack of dependable sensory and experiential information available to the visually impaired infant.
• Exposure to a wide variety of environmental experiences in natural settings to allow the child to generalize learned skills in new settings.

Gross and Fine Motor Needs

• Physical Therapy and/or Occupational Therapy to overcome the effects of limited motor experiences on muscle development.
• Training and support to move out into the environment. The infant who is blind or low vision does not have the visual motivation that prompts the development of early motor milestones.

Vision Needs

• Regular functional vision evaluations.
• Caregiver understanding of and response to, the unique characteristics of the Visually Impaired child's visual diagnosis.
• Vision stimulation activities in the context of naturally occurring events to encourage the use of residual vision, when appropriate.
• Access to adapted visual aids (glasses, contacts, sunglasses, etc.).

Communication Needs

• Early nurturing interactions with a consistent, significant caregiver.
• Recognition of the unique responses of visually impaired infants to the introduction of new voices and sounds.
• Simultaneous verbal description of activities in which the visually impaired child is engaged.

Social and Emotional Needs

• Early exposure to age- appropriate skills for daily living: eating, dressing, toileting.
• Additional support to motivate the child to interact with family members and others within the extended family and community.
• Play opportunities with selective adult encouragement to interact with age mates takes on added significance for the legally blind child who is unable to visually imitate the play skills of other children

Designing for the physically handicapped involves the ergonomics of an environment, comprising of their human needs, perception, reactions, sensations of space, physiological comfort, social relationships and the use of the mental faculties. Therefore the architect must work is collaboration with psychiatrist, psychological therapist, sociologist, doctors and educationists.