Why Does My Visually Impaired Child Walk Funny
Many parents have noticed that their blind, visually handicapped, or multi-handicapped children walk – or shuffle – with their feet wide apart and/or their toes pointed slightly out to the side. They wonder if all blind children walk this way.
If you have other children, you may remember that they, too, first learned to walk with their feet wide apart and their arms held high. They do this because it helps them keep their balance. As they become better walkers, they no longer need this wide base of support.
Visually handicapped and multi-handicapped toddlers, however, may continue to walk this way. As they gain confidence in moving their bodies, this usually disappears. But this confidence only comes from lot of movement activities from early infancy: rolling over; pushing up on their tummies, reaching, twisting, crawling. It is important to keep your child physically active, because he has no other way of learning about his body, how it can move, and how it feels when it does move.
If your child is past the toddler stage and still seems to walk funny, continue to work on physical activities, including such things as swimming, kicking, bicycling, and walking up and down steps. These activities will help increase his self-confidence while giving him practice in hip and trunk rotation to help reduce the shuffling.
Both a physical therapist and an orientation and mobility specialist can be a great help to you in this. Be sure to ask for their opinions and ideas.
Suggestions for Raising Young Blind and Visually Impaired Children, By Kay Alicyn Ferrell, American Foundation for the Blind
