Please note: these are tips that I have found useful whilst looking after my Mother who has severe visual impairment in the left field of vision that originated from temporal arteritis - these "tips" may or may not help your, the reader, situation or those of who you are caring for (and please don't blame me for anything) but I certainly hope it helps the situation you are in.
- Piatnik Playing Cards - Superb Giant Index Cards - I got a set from Amazon and have used them for playing Snap and my Mother uses them for playing Patience. The latter game helps with her sight, placing skills and memory. I expect to play with Vingt et Un soon.
- Cutting Boards - despite being severely visually impaired, Mother still wants to do things to feel that she is being helpful and she is, too. These boards are flexible, dishwashable and impregnated with anti-bacterial agents.
- To improve hand eye co-ordination, I gave her a small Klip Lock box with dried cranberries or mixed berry fruit mix and a cocktail stick. This was so that she could pierce the fruit with a cocktail stick, it helped to reinforce a form of eccentric viewing. Her determinism shone through as she finished the box and I felt it did help with depth perception as well.
- I did also get her a high visibilty USB 2 keyboard to help with her typing on the computer. I used orange bumpons to act as anchor points on the "Q" keys as well as highlighting the keys with the raised lines on them - these being the "F", "J" and the "5" key on the numeric pad. I taught my Mother a few mnemonics to remember the letters on the keyboard. The most successful one was for the second line "All Squid Dive Freely (to the) Golf Hole (to see) JeKyL".
