Free Guide Dogs learning sessions in Kirklees support children with sight loss

My Time to Play is a free service run by sight loss charity Guide Dogs, aiming to provide early intervention with very young children with sight loss that can have a positive lifetime impact, as well as provide information, support, and networking opportunities for parents.

The sessions, which will run fortnightly from 10th September at the Counting House Nursery in Birstall, will be run by Guide Dogs’ expert team of habilitation specialists.

The focus will be on five key areas of the children’s development: Concept development; sensory skills; fine and gross motor skills; self-help; and independence and communication skills.

Andrew Lambert, Senior Habilitation Specialist at Guide Dogs, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer My Time to Play to children in Birstall and the surrounding areas.

“These sessions will help children with sight loss aged from birth to four years old, to develop a broad range of skills through play in a group setting, with each of the seven sessions based around a sensory story and including songs, movement, and related activities.”

There will be seven sessions in total, running every other week for two hours, each with a different theme and an assessment of each individual child.

Parent Magdalena has said Guide Dogs’ My Time To Play sessions helped prepare her daughter Ruby for her first day at school.

She said: “The My Time To Play sessions have definitely helped with Ruby’s confidence and get her ready for school. They’ve really helped show her things like opening jars, using a knife and buttering bread, pouring and carrying liquids and cups safely and with confidence.

“I know being with other children at the sessions can help push your child to do something, and if the Habilitation Specialist is there doing it, they want to get involved and give it a go - they don’t want to be left out so they start building their confidence.

"Ruby really enjoys being around the other children, she loves people and is always saying hello to everyone.”

Magdalena has also found meeting other families at the sessions really helpful, saying: “Being able to speak to other parents is quite a big thing. I feel it’s as important, if not more important, for the parents to be able to speak to each other.

"When we go anywhere, you can’t always see Ruby has a vision impairment unless she has her cane. So to be around parents that know about it and are in similar situations is really important.

“I want other parents to know it’s ok to reach out to other parents. I know a parent who reached out to me after they saw the video of Ruby at My Time To Play. That’s why the sessions are fantastic – at whatever point of diagnosis people are at, they are going through something similar or have been through it all before.”

Sign up now at guidedogs.org.uk/mttp or email [email protected] or call 0800 781 1444.