Children and Youth Services
The Sight Center of Northwest Ohio offers three programs designed specifically to address the needs of children — Early Intervention Program; Activities of Daily Living’ and Summer Camp Opportunities.
Early Intervention Program
The Early Intervention Program is directed toward children at risk for lack of ability due to visual disorders. Designed for infants from birth to three years of age, the program’s vision screening process ensures that proper eye care is received at the earliest possible stage in development. The Sight Center provides a professional who, working as part of a multi-factored play-based assessment team, helps evaluate and review the children’s skills to determine what interventions should be made to maximize their opportunities for success as they grow and develop. Generally, these children are referred to the program by family doctors or other medical professionals. After The Sight Center provides the assessment, the child may be referred to an ophthalmologist or optometrist for further evaluation.
Activities of Daily Living
As part of the area public schools programming, The Sight Center provides hands-on experience for severely visually impaired and blind grade school and high school students. The students, ranging in age from five to 19 years, are transported to The Sight Center and receive training on independent living techniques. The program takes place in The Sight Center’s Activities of Daily Living apartment, which includes a complete kitchen, laundry facility, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The students learn how to prepare and serve a meal, do their own laundry including folding and ironing clothes, clean a bathroom, make a bed, dust, vacuum and much more.
Summer Camp Opportunities
Every summer, The Sight Center of Northwest Ohio hosts a summer camp directed to blind and visually impaired children ranging in age from five to 19. The goal of the camp is to help these children learn basic daily living skills as well as how to move about the community safely while enjoying some valuable community resources. Generally, the camp is held for one to two weeks from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you are interested in receiving information about our summer camp program, please forward your name, address, telephone number and, if available, email address to Dani Moran, 419-720-EYES (3937), extension 234, or email dmoran@sightcentertoledo.org.
