It is important to learn how to read to the child. Children's books in particular rely a lot on the artwork and a child can miss a lot of the experience if they just hear the words. A simple example is if you were reading the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty." No where in the rhyme does it mention that Humpty Dumpty is an egg so to a person just hearing the rhyme it is a very terrifying experience. You can start by looking $1 to help you begin the learn how you can bring a book alive.

There are also a lot of tactile toys that can help the child to get ready to learn braille like $1, tactile alphabet cards, tactile mazes, and books. There are cardboard books, like "Clifford," that have both print and braille. There are resources available to help. Just remember that he is a child like any other and can do the same things as his sighted counterparts just with a few modifications here and there.

Hi there, you guys may already have this covered but, your grandbaby will qualify for an IFSP (individual family service plan). It is like an IEP for special education in school, but for babies and families. It's universal across the U.S. And it will follow the child anywhere in the U.S. as long as they qualify for it. You guys should ask the local doctor to refer your grandchild for these services locally. They can vary by county depending on where you live. The family and the child needs support from a teacher of visually impaired and perhaps even an infant development specialist (depending on need), as well as any other needed services. The IFSP will get you guys access to all of that. You should have a local regional center that will do the intake process, get you a case manager, and start the ball rolling on getting those services. The sooner, the better!

Here are some good resources for families:
www.wonderbaby.org is my favorite go-to website for parents. It's packed with resources! You will find development charts for blind babies, suggested toys, articles galore, ideas for activities, etc.
Here is a list of $1 for parents of blind babies to get you started.
$1 is another fantastic website with tons of ideas! Lots of teachers in the field post on here and use this website as a resource too! New ideas are added all the time. You can sign up to be notified by email when new resources are posted.

As someone who works blind infants my first suggestion is to 'wear the baby'. By that I mean, in a sling or carrier, as much as possible! Parents should make an effort to be constantly talking to the baby as they go about their day while wearing the baby: "I think I'm going to make a bowl of cereal. First I need a bowl. That's up here in the top cupboard. Now I need to go to the pantry for the ceral. (Shake the box, let child feel and listen). Now we need some milk from the fridge. (Brrr, the fridge is cold!). Now I'm pouring some cereal, and now the milk." It will seem strange at first, but it will get easier! And it is SO beneficial to the baby. Providing the baby with this kind of rich language combined with multi-sensory experiences (touching, hearing, tasting, smelling, etc) will help them develop important concepts that sighted children pick up naturally. The whole family will need to get used to taking about and showing the child what they are doing, how things work, how they fit together, etc. I have many a time taken kids outside and held them up to feel all parts of a tree, put them up on the table so they could feel around the wall where the AC vent was because 'where that cold air came from' was a mystery! Then we went and felt the back of the portable and found the AC unit! It's these kids of things that blind kids have to be taught, where as sighted kids just pick it by from their visual experiences.

Exposure to a wide variety of textures is always a good idea too! Grass, sand, mud, cool whip, raisins, pudding, etc. These textures are not always easy for blind children to tolerate. Regular exposure early on will help!

See if the family (or the agency that provides service!) will help you to make a toy gym/little room for the baby. Here is a great example of a $1 with instructions for an infant. The purpose here is to help the infant develop a sense of object permanence (everything is on elastic so it doesn't just "disappear" when tossed), it allows for exploration of a variety of sounds and textures (put jingle bell balls in a little whisk for example), provides consistency (you don't change items out too often unless they don't play with it), and encourages exploration of their environment. The blind child needs to develop a sense of confidence in exploring their surroundings (safe, consistent, rewarding experiences) which will lay a nice foundation for the child to develop the motivation and confidence to begin walking/crawling/scooting, etc. once the child is moving around this is no longer appropriate and can be hazardous if the get themselves tangled in the elastic. This is a supervised activity for infants and children who are not yet moving around on their own.

You can also put your sewing skills to good use too by making $1. Another example here for $1. A quick google search for quiet books, tactile books, or texture books will pull up tons of ideas!

Also, www.seedlings.org has beautiful children's books with braille added for very good prices. And they will give you 2 free braille books a year through their Angel Program. Expose that baby to braille just like you would a sighted baby to print and picture books! Here are some other free braille book $1.

Please feel free to PM me and I can invite you to take a look at my Pinterest board of resources for blind infants/toddlers. I work with all age ranges and abilities of blind children and have quite a few boards! I can also look up your local services for you if you need help in knowing who to contact.

What state do you live in? We can try to recommend local resources.

Since the child will not have the visual stimulation other children take for granted, it is important to focus more on sounds and textures since the child has to see the world through them now.
One example is when you quilt or knit patterns, try to think how you can make the patterns textured/3d.
I went totally blind at the age of 3, and I remember to this day that one of my favorite shirt as a child had a stuff-animal snake sewn to it. All other shirts were just...shirts, but that one was special cause I could always tell it apart, so in my child's mind, that had to be special. :)
My parents also introduced me to audio books and recorded stories from an early age, and I learned the world and its history through them.


Here is also a video in which I talked about another avenue through which I learned to view the world:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coA0RPdifvY

Things that make noise help! If you could make a plush toy with a rattle would be great! Also, try making a blanket with different pattern textures on it, as he grows older he would be able to feel and tell the differences in fabric. I hope this helps and congratulations!