Halifax parenting program gains national attention
Posted Jan 2, 2013 10:49:25 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A program to help families with visually impaired members may get some national attention after much local success.
Shelley Adams is a local counsellor with CNIB, formerly the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, who developed and runs the “Parenting with Vision Loss” and “Parenting Children with Vision Loss” programs out of Halifax.
“The reason I started the program is because I have vision loss myself,” explained Adams. “When I was pregnant I didn’t really have anyone to talk to or connect with. I wasn’t nervous about becoming a parent, but I knew there was going to be some extra challenges.”
Extra challenges like how a parent with vision loss gives a child a douse of medicine when they can’t see the measurement lines? Or, how to keep track of a sighted child while at the playground.
“I didn’t even take my son to the playground on my own until he was over three years old because I was too nervous,” Adams said.
Adams piloted the project in Halifax, filling a void for the CNIB. She connects with parents across the Maritime provinces over the telephone and the program is now in its second year.
This year, the program is taking another jump forward.
Adams is presenting at the CNIB National Child and Family Professional Development Conference in February.
The CNIB said it is hoping to launch the programs coast-to-coast in 2013, with the Halifax pilot program serving as the model for expansion.
