The concept of sight

I am on a mission to teach my daughter the concept of the five senses. We have studied them this year and last and she can tell you what she uses to see, hear, taste, touch and smell. If you ask her what do you hear with she says ears, what do you see with, she knows it is the eyes. However, when you ask her did she see or feel the color blue, she always says she felt it! If you ask her does she use her eyes or hands to find the color red, she will say her hands. Now I know I have been telling you that she is a hands on learner, but really, her eyes do work. So now it is my job to find a way to explain that to her.

This is one of the greatest challenges of teaching a child with special needs. Most children seem to grasp certain abstract concepts pretty easily, but we have to find ways to teach them to our children. Some of it just does not come naturally and more often then not, when a child does not pick up the concept it is assumed that it is beyond their reach. I, however, do not always believe that to be the case. I am sure Gess can grasp the concept of what this all means, but it is going to take time, patience and dedication to get it done. I am off to find those hands on activities to help teach my daughter that she needs her eyes to know what color something is, or to read the words on the paper and wonderful things like that. So, what would be a week long lesson in the senses for some children is probably going last a month or more for us. That is alright, we will have lots of fun doing it.

I will be spending a couple of weeks researching ideas and planning some lessons and then probably after the first of the year we will start really delving into each of the senses. It may take some time, but we will accomplish our goal. I will keep you posted as to what activities I find that seem to work. In the meantime please feel free to share any activities that you have used or just ideas that come to mind. That is why I am here, so we can share and learn from each other!