88 Introduction It is increasingly apparent that more and more young blind children of today are not only blind but also severely disturbed. Throughout the nation they are truly misunderstood by parents, by professional personnel of all disciplines, and by administrators of various pertinent programs and services. As a consequence, there is a shocking increase in the number of commitments of these children to mental institutions, such commitments being aided and abetted by an even more shocking refusal to admit them to on-going diagnostic, therapeutic, training and/or educational services theoretically designed to be challenged by these complex children. In its analysis of this situation, the American Foundation for the Blind firmly believes that what a severely disturbed blind child needs most is "unconditional love and an unconditional sense of belonging," both of which must remain constant in parent and teacher alike even though the behavior of the child at any one moment may be irritating and exasperating to a phenomenal degree. In pursuing its belief in this basic idea, the American Foundation for the Blind is continuing to conduct intensive summer workshops at colleges and universities—workshops whose highly specialized content is designed (1) to emphasize the potentialities of these children and (2) to develop a national network of professional personnel who can, with dignity and conviction, interpret the real needs of these children to their respective families and communities. Ten outstanding members of this ever-growing national network of professional personnel actively cooperated in developing the content of this publication; through their on-going programs in various communities the other some 50 former workshop participants have given and are continuing to give increasing validity to the ideas and recommendations expressed herein. The blind children under discussion are children who have been variously described as "autistic," "mentally deficient,” “not able to be in school," "unreachable." The one characteristic which they seem to have in common is their retardation in development. In this publication they are referred to as "severely disturbed" for it is felt that no child, sighted or blind, could have such life experiences as these children are having without being disturbed to a high degree. This material is prepared primarily for administrators, psychologists and teachers who sincerely desire to be attentive to the child in his attempts to communicate, to understand his problems, and to develop services which will have as a goal the development of the potential of the severely disturbed blind child. It is hoped that professional people who read this book will catch some of the spark of these pioneers and thus hasten the building of this network of national personnel who truly believe in unlocking and developing the potentialities of these hundreds of severely disturbed blind children who surely have a right to be included in our nation's generous programs for "all the children of all the people." I. Who is This Blind Child? The interest of the general public in helping handicapped children has nowhere been more eloquently expressed than in its desire to provide for children who are blind. In recent years, in addition to the services of public and private residential schools, the number of local schools educating blind children with sighted children at both preschool and school age levels has greatly increased, as well as have other supplementary services, all of which indicate a sincere intention to help all blind children grow to fulfillment. Within the past fifteen or twenty years, however, it has been increasingly apparent that there are lost children within the blind population, children who fall into the shadows of the educational picture and whose early medical and developmental histories are so bleak that a mere reading of the records might erroneously suggest that perhaps these lost children are hopelessly incapable of significant improvement. When the number of premature babies blinded by oxygen therapy became alarming to the medical and educational professions, intensive studies of the growth and development of all blind children were undertaken by national agencies and by medical, sociological and educational research units. In the course of these studies it became apparent that there were, and still are, many blind children who are little known to society, often forgotten, often refused services currently available to all children, and who are consequently being denied opportunities for developing and leading independent lives. This denial stems primarily from the fact that the children themselves present unexpected behavior. In addition, their 98-466 - 63 (Vol. 4) - 8 records are so similar to those of sighted children who traditionally have poor prognoses for future development that few persons find reason to observe these blind children intensively and to try to learn about them from their behavior. Lack of awareness of their numbers, and failure to understand the nature of their problems push these children into the recesses of society: state homes for defective children; the bedrooms and kitchens of defeated and angry parents; or successive welfare agencies and classrooms which too often give these disturbed blind children only one more defeat because of a lack of appropriate personnel and resources. In the light of this knowledge, a few professional persons of various disciplines throughout the country have undertaken to explore methods of helping these children: by studying them through direct observation and experimental placement; by noting their growth patterns; by observing their places in the families which have lived through their problems with them; and by analyzing their medical and educational histories. Today, then, more is known about these children, their numbers, their potentialities and their developmental needs. Translating this knowledge into action, both for the sake of the children themselves and for the sake of the contribution which their improved functioning can make to society, is a serious and urgent matter which faces the educational world today. The means for helping any child with severe emotional or developmental problems are always difficult to secure. When the child is also blind, these means are more often than not impossible to find today. The potential of the forgotten blind child-sometimes so great as to be superior-may be lost to society unless someone or some total setting is willing to undertake a program especially designed to encourage the latent development of the child. When we know a child and know him well, the task of helping him becomes easier, for we can minimize his differences from other children and we can focus our efforts upon his similarities to them and upon his potentialities. Before we can provide for him, |