VIDBE-Q Volume 66 Issue 4
What Do We Do?
Knowing the signs of anxiety and depression is not enough. Below are ways
we can help children with visual impairment reduce the number and severity of
their emotional problems?
• Build a trusting relationship. When support is offered by
someone they know and trust, youth are more likely to consider
suggestions, try new strategies, and successfully develop the
skills needed to manage their mental health.
• Connect students to peers and adults who have a vision
loss. Anxiety about the future can be reduced by providing
youth with opportunities to connect with both peers and adults
with vision loss who are living, learning, and working
independently.
• Help students learn skills to initiate relationships that will
lead to friendships. Students must master typical tasks of
childhood adolescence like forming close friendships and
navigating how to gain access to peer groups rather than
engaging only in solitary and parallel play.
