How Rehabilitation Training Can Aid Your Parent With Low Vision

Quick summary

Rehabilitation training may be one of the most helpful things for a parent who's been diagnosed with low vision. A knowledgeable teacher can help your parent maximize his vision and develop everyday skills to maintain his independence and quality of life.

What is rehabilitation training?

A rehabilitation teacher is a trained professional who can help your parent learn adaptive strategies (like how to pour his coffee without spilling it, how to navigate the stairs, and how to use a stand magnifier). She can help assess how well his home is functioning for him (in terms of safety, efficiency, and low-vision friendliness) and make suggestions for modifications. And she can recommend vision aids and teach your parent to use them.

The teacher can also provide a great deal of information about your parent's condition to your parent as well as the rest of the family.

The rehabilitation teacher may meet with your parent at an office or in your parent's home. She may even accompany him to the grocery store or for a walk in the neighborhood to teach him skills in action.

How and when should you get in touch with a rehabilitation teacher?

Your parent's eye doctor will examine his eyes and determine what kinds of lenses and eyewear will maximize his vision. She may suggest new lenses, protective or reflective coatings, or biopics that supplement his glasses to provide magnification for better vision.

She may also suggest other vision aids or make a referral for rehabilitation training. Another way to find local vision rehabilitation training is through the Lighthouse International Vision Connection, which will also put you in touch with other low-vision resources. The American Foundation for the Blind is another good resource.

What will the rehabilitation trainer do?

Here are some of the specific ways a rehabilitation teacher may help your parent with low vision:

• Meal preparation. She may teach your parent to safely slice food, mark appliances for easy use, and employ tricks and habits (like always setting a timer when something is cooking) that will help him stay as independent as possible.
• Orientation and mobility training. The teacher may help your parent learn to move about safely while he's at home and when he's out and about -- navigating elevators, stairs, and curbs, for example.
• Enhancement of recreation and leisure time. She may help your parent access and learn to use a reading machine or a CD or tape player. The teacher may be able to find lighting and magnification that enables your parent to continue with his handiwork and teach him to mark his tools for easy identification.
• Shopping. She may accompany your parent to the store and help him use vision aids, like a scanner, to read tags. Once home, she can help him develop a system for storing purchases such as groceries.
• Money management. The teacher may show your parent how to use templates for writing checks, how to bank online with magnification, and how to organize money in his wallet (five-dollar bills folded in half in one area, one-dollar bills lying flat in another, for example).
• Housekeeping. Your parent can learn tips for maintaining a safe, clean, attractive home despite his low vision.
• Grooming. The teacher may show your parent how to use a magnifying mirror for makeup or shaving, how to safely run a bath or take a shower, how to iron his clothes, and other grooming skills.
• Driving. With the help of magnifying lenses, the rehabilitation teacher might be able to help your parent safely keep his driving license.
• Vocational counseling. If your parent would like to continue to work, he may greatly benefit from some help in learning to adjust to his low vision at his particular job. The rehabilitation teacher may be able to provide this help or may refer him to someone else who can.
• Emotional support. The teacher will probably have a great deal to offer in the way of emotional support. And if your parent needs more help coping, she can also help find a support group or psychological counseling.

What you can try on your own

If you don't have access to rehabilitation training for your parent, or if he's reluctant to participate, there still are many things that you can try together. If even only a few of these suggestions prove useful, you'll find that your parent benefits enormously.

• Experiment to provide the best lightingin your parent's home. A qualified rehabilitation teacher will easily spot what needs to be done, but you may be able to help your parent figure out what works best with a little trial and error. Remember that incandescent light is generally better than fluorescent for those with low vision, for example.

Make sure there are lights in the closets, under the kitchen cabinets, and in hallways. A gooseneck lamp directly over his reading, cooking, or work area may be useful. Stock your parent's home with flashlights, nightlights, and illuminated magnifiers if he finds those helpful.

At the same time, your parent may be very sensitive to glare, so you'll want to check windows to make sure he's able to close blinds or curtains to reduce glare when necessary. Placing a lamp below his eye level rather than above his head will also help minimize glare.

• Use contrast to help items stand out visually. Put a white dinner plate on a dark placemat and a dark beverage in a light cup, for example. (Avoid clear glass, which may be invisible to your parent.) Install a dark outlet plate around a light-covered outlet or a light-colored switch on a dark wall (or tape around the switch cover with bright-colored tape). Choose contrasting colors for everyday items like soap and towels. When running water in the tub, have your parent place a brightly colored object that floats in the water, so he can see the water level rise as the object floats up. Mark kitchen and clock dials with bright nail polish, felt markers, bright stickers, or a black marker. Mark steps in his home with contrasting colors of tape (especially top and bottom steps).

For television, a bigger screen isn't always preferable. Your parent may do better with a smaller screen with better resolution placed near his chair than with a very large screen with poor resolution that's set across the room.

• Count the way. Suggest that your parent count the number of steps to the basement, so that every time he gets to that last step he knows he's there. Have him count which mailbox is his (fourth from the right end, for example) and how many turns to the right the delicate or regular cycle sits on the washing machine knob.
• Get organized. Declutter and simplify are the first rules of organization, and they're especially important for those with low vision. It's hard enough for you to find a spice in a poorly organized cupboard that's overflowing with items; it's far more difficult without good vision. Reducing the number of items in the cupboard will make it easier to organize and easier for your parent to locate just what he needs.

After shopping, label products using large white labels and a thick black marker before putting them away.

Help your parent preset the buttons on his phone and organize his refrigerator, cupboards, wallet, and so on. Work together to come up with good systems so he can find things he needs at any time, even if you're not around. Drawer dividers can separate different-colored socks or kitchen gadgets, and a caddy on the side of the bed can help him keep track of his glasses, a flashlight, and tissues.

• Educate yourself. The more you learn about your parent's condition -- from professionals, others with low vision, and your parent -- the better equipped you'll be to aid him. Keep in mind that vision loss is often progressive. If that's the case for your parent, it means that he's continually having to readapt to his situation. Having you (and, ideally, a rehabilitation teacher as well) to help him problem-solve will be invaluable.