Parent and carers (BVI)

Early years

Children with a visual impairment develop in much the same way as other children, although there may be differences in the rate and sequence in which skills develop.

Early Support information:

Early Support booklet, Information for parents, Visual Impairment - Your Specialist Advisory Teacher for Children and Young People with a Visual Impairment should provide you with one.

The Developmental Journal for Babies and Children with Visual Impairment and activity cards.  The journal helps parents and carers track and understand a child's development, celebrate achievement and find out what they can do to encourage their child to learn.  The activity cards help to support the developmental steps.  These can all be downloaded to your computer or iPad.  Ask your health professionals or Specialist Advisory Teacher for Children and Young People with a Visual Impairment to talk you through their introduction.

Booktouch:

Booktouch packs are for children who are blind or partially sighted.  These children are entitled to this pack in addition to the two standard Bookstart packs.  There are two Booktouch packs available Booktouch Baby (for babies 0 to 2 years old) and Booktouch for older children (2 to 4 years old)

You can collect your free Booktouch packs from your Health Visitor, local health clinic, local library or through your Specialist Advisory Teacher for Pupils with a Visual Impairment.

For up to date information visit Bookstart

Local Organisations who can help:

Extended Services and Surestart Children's Centres:  There are 28 Children's Centres all over Cumbria.  They provide information and access to services and activities for children up to 19 and their families. Information about centres near you can be found by following this link:

http://www.gov.uk/find-sure-start-childrens-centre  

Children and Families Information for free nursery places:

Discover the facts about free early nursery places for 3 and 4 year olds and some 2 year olds:

http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/childrenandfamilies/cfis/default.asp 

Access to benefits:

Information about financial support for parents and carers, including Disabled Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Carer's Allowance, Tax Credits, Respite, Direct Payments, Transport, Family Fund and other grants, can be found at RNIB.org

Further information regarding registration as Visually Impaired or Blind can be found at:www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health/registering-your-sight-loss

School aged children

Supporting your School Age Child with homework practice:

Educational resources for parents based on the National Curriculum covering Maths, English and Science, for years 1 to 11.

http://www.edplace.com/  
10.00 a month for one student, one subject 
15.00 a month for one student, all subjects 
17.00 a month for up to 4 students, one subject 
25.00 a month for up to 4 students, all subjects 

£ 66 a year for one student, one subject 
£ 99 a year for one student, all subjects 
£ 110 a year up to 4 students, one subject 
£ 165 a year for up to 4 students, all subjects

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/english

Bitesize is the name given to the BBC's free online study support resource for school-age students in the United Kingdom. It is designed to aid students in both school work and, for older students, exams. Bitesize is available on a variety of platforms including the web and mobile phones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswisegives students practice in different subjects along with fun educational games

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/english

Load2 learn this is a fantastic resource for students who have difficulty with print 
reading difficulties or visual impairment. There is also an image library of clear diagrams which 
are accessibly written. 
You can sign up as individuals for use at home.

Note the copyright clause before you download books though. 
There are some fantastic videos of students using technology in 
effective ways.

Books for Children

Living Paintings is a charity that publishes Touch to See books that bring the visual world to life for blind and partially sighted children and adults.

Their unique books are available FREE from their nationwide postal library.

http://www.livingpaintings.org/what-we-do-for-you/children-product-range-and-catalogues

Further Books for Children

Books can be obtained large print, e books or Braille:

www.rnib.org.uk › ...Read with RNIB

A postal library of children's accessible books - www.clearvisionproject.org

Voluntary Organisations:

National Organisations

Note: Some of these websites do not have obvious children and young people sections.

By contacting the organisations directly you may be able to establish what they offer children and young people.

RNIB www.rnib.org.uk  suggest that "children or recently-diagnosed" is put into the search function

Look National Federation for Families with visually impaired children:www.look-uk.org

British Blind Sportwww.britishblindsport.org.uk

Disability Snow Sportwww.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk 

Disability Sports Eventswww.efds.co.uk 

The Outlook Trust www.outlooktrust.org(charity which organise some Windermere based activities)

Local Organisations

Note: Some of these websites do not have obvious children and young people sections.

By contacting the organisations directly you may be able to establish what they offer children and young people.

Barrow Blind Society www.barrowblindsociety.org.uk

Carlisle Society for the Blind www.carlisleblindsociety.org.uk

Eden Sight Support www.edensightsupport.org.uk

West Cumbria Society for the Blind  www.westcumbriablindsociety.org

Blackwell Sailing www.blackwellsailing.com

The Oaklea Trust, part of the Oaklea Group www.oakleatrust.co.uk  

Action for Blind / Cumbria Actionnaires run activities and ensure children of all abilities can take part, regardless of their level of vision: www.rnib.org.uk

Sight Advice South Lakes offer information on the range of assistance for people of all ages in the South Lakes area of Cumbria who have sight loss:

www.sightadvice.org.uk 

Other useful links

• http://www.inspira.org.uk/

Key documents