IDEA #4CFSN1 Hands-Free Mobility Device for Toddlers who are Visually Impaired. 16A0009

Key Words: Blind & visually impaired toddlers, mobility tool for safety Toddlers who are visually impaired are at risk of developing global developmental delays even with current early intervention methods. The cause of these delays is that toddlers with visual impairments lack a method of safe, freedom of movement. Toddlers’ engagement in the environment is critical for concept, language, motor and social skill development. Thus, educational practitioners place great value on encouraging exploration in the environment. When toddlers with visual impairments do walk they inevitably collide with objects and suddenly discover elevation changes. The resulting negative motor responses have been well documented and include: Postural changes, such as head drop, abdominal protuberance, lordosis, and gait problems such as, wide-based, out-toeing, hesitant and shuffling, or propulsive and unsteady gait (Glanzman & Ducret, 2003). When compared to their sighted peers, children with visual impairments lag behind in motor skill competence (e.g. Houwen, Hartman, & Visscher, 2008; Houwen, Visscher, Hartman, & Lemmnik, 2007; Schneekloth, 1989). Current mobility tools, the adapted mobility device (AMD), modified push toys, and a long cane do not meet the needs of the toddler with a visual impairment. These devices are only effective when the user is able to maintain a continuous grasp and correct positioning, user requirements that are beyond the developmental capacity of toddlers. I believe it is the absence of a developmentally appropriate mobility device that is the cause of the habitual, global developmental delays in concepts as well as language, social and motor skills observed in many learners with congenital visual impairments (Ely, 2014; Erin, 2010). In 2013, Hatton, Ivy & Boyer analyzed the data on young children who were referred to specialized agencies providing services to learners with visual impairments between 2005 and 2011 (N=5,931). Of those, 28.3% were identified as having developmental delays after being born with no additional disability. Conceptual knowledge is mapped within the sensory-motor system. The sensory-motor system not only provides structure to conceptual content, but also characterizes the semantic content of concepts in terms of the way that one functions with our bodies in the world (Gallese & Lakoff, 2005). Toddlers’ engagement in the environment is critical for conceptual, language, motor and social skill development. The limitless energy sighted toddlers typically use to toddle purposefully from one point to another is repurposed by toddlers who are visually impaired into stereotypical mannerisms (e.g., eye poking, head banging), as well as jumping and twirling in place. Toddlers with visual impairments grow into preschoolers who have never known safe freedom of movement. Recent studies have documented that preschoolers with visual impairments remain stationary and engage in solitary play in preschool settings (Celeste, 2006; Celeste & Grum, 2010). Preschoolers are developmentally capable of maintaining a grasp on a mobility tool and receive IEP mandated instruction in using a hand-held mobility device. However, the delays in motor, language and conceptual knowledge are already pronounced, and intense therapy is required to attempt to correct them.