All inclusive

A topic on light and dark can have special meaning for children with special needs provided it is planned in such a way as to include everyone, particularly children with impaired vision, who may have differing perceptions and experiences of light and dark.

Practitioners should, therefore, ensure that these children can contribute to discussions and participate in activities in ways that are appropriate to them.

Children diagnosed as 'totally blind' can find it hard to differentiate between day and night, and often have related sleeping difficulties. Discussions and activities about day and night can help them to establish the difference and make sense of routines. Discussions can explore different activities for specific times of the day, for example, when we eat (and what food we eat at different times of the day), take a bath, what times family members return home and go to bed.

Make tapes of sounds associated with day andnight in your local area, and play guessing games withthe children.