Fun activities to help the blind improve their speech abilities.
Early intervention is critical to language development, especially for the blind. Much of a child's early learning is via the visual experience. Blind children may experience a delay in language skills because they do not have the benefit of vision. Blind children that exhibit articulation problems require special speech therapy techniques, because they cannot see the proper placement of the tongue or lips to produce the correct sound. Sounds must be learned by voice prompting and by touch.
What Does It Feel Like?
A visually impaired or blind person with articulation or fluency development problems can learn to make the proper sound with practice. The visually impaired person will often benefit from touching the face and lips of the therapist to get an idea of shape their own lips to make the proper sound. One method of practice is to give the visually impaired or blind person an object and ask them to describe how it feels. For example, if the person is having difficulty properly pronouncing an "F" sound, give them an object than can be described as "soft." Therapists may encourage the person to think of many different ways to describe the object. Is it smooth or rough? Is the object large or small? Is it long or short?
Build a Story
Children may find practice by repetition a boring activity. To help a visually impaired or blind child practice speech therapy exercises without becoming bored, play a repetition game. As the game progresses, a story is created. The therapist begins with a short introductory sentence, which the child repeats and then adds an element. For example, the teacher may say "John had a birthday party." The child then repeats, "John had a birthday party," adds the word "and" followed by another sentence like "and invited all of his friends." The therapist continues with another sentence that follows whatever the child added to the first. In the above example, the therapist may list a few names of John's friends, which the child must then repeat and then add more to the story.
Singing the Sounds
Singing the words that the visually impaired person has difficulty pronouncing is a fun and effective method of speech therapy. Therapists may elect to use familiar songs or the person receiving therapy can make up a song. Singing makes practicing the sounds easier, and also helps improve memory. Students who are having difficulty pronouncing a particular sound can sing along with the therapist. For example, students who have difficulty pronouncing the "B" sound will benefit from singing the familiar song, "Baa Baa Black Sheep." Rhymes and poems that contain particular sounds can also be sung or repeated. The visually impaired can touch the lips of the therapist to feel the shape to help them form their lips properly.
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