Issue 24 Spring 1998 Visual Impairment and Children's Reading Needs Update Desmond L Spiers Original article.	Collections under which this       article appears:       Reading       Special Needs Related Articles or Resources Other Articles by Author

There have been quite a few changes and developments in material and services for children with Visual Impairments since the above article was published in November 1996. Some of these are listed below.

In April Oxford University Press published a large print edition of their Junior Dictionary. This has the new title of The Oxford Young Readers' Dictionary. It costs £12.99 and the ISBN is 0 19 910427 1.

The ClearVision Project (Tel: 0181 789 9575) have created a new collection of material for use by parents or adults who are visually impaired and who wish to share books with sighted children under the age of three. The books contain simple concepts like colour, size, opposites, ABC, 123.
Guidelines have now been written on making optimum use of ClearVision books.
Some ClearVision books now come with descriptions of the pictures.

The National Library for the Blind (Tel: 0161 494 0217) continue to restructure and expand their services.
There are now some 4,000 titles available for children. A new Youth Project has been started to develop and improve services to young people.
A full range of catalogues is available in Braille, print and on 3.25" diskettes. Specific lists can also be compiled on request.
TWO WAY books contain both Braille and print so sighted and visually impaired readers can share books.
The NLB produce a free newsletter called Hands On, which is available in Braille or print.
An exciting development is the creation of MOONSHARE books. These are dual language books with both print and Moon. This project was one of the topics discussed at a national conference on Moon held in October. A report on the conference will be given in the next newsletter.

The following three titles have been added to REACH's stock since the article. The first two contain practical information on visual impairment, and the third would be of interest to those who wish to explore the use of Braille in more depth:

• Library and Information Services for Visually Impaired People: National Guidelines
  MACHELL, Jean
  Library Association 1996 ISBN 1 85604 208 1 Pb
  
• Supporting Children with Visual Impairment in Mainstream Schools MILLER, Olga
  Franklin Watts 1996 ISBN 0 7496 1747 0 Pb
  
• Reading by Touch
  MILLAR, Susanna
  Routledge 1997 ISBN 0 415 06838 X Pb
  

Feel Happy (Tel: 01635 299771) the children's section of the Living Painting Trust now have 30 tactile books available to borrow, suitable for pre-school through KS.2. Their Van Gogh Art Pack for KS.2+ is ready and a Degas Art Pack is in preparation. Due at the end of 1997 is a Winnie the Pooh picture pack. From early 1998 a series of Introductory Packs will be ready. These will introduce the concept of tactile books and allow practice in audio/tactile interpretation. They will be suitable for Nursery - Yr.3, Yr.4 - Yr.6, and Yr.7+.

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