23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

kinds of retardation which generally are considered
normal in such cases.
A high percentage of the children (39%) were born
prematurely (between 23 and 34 weeks gestation).
As a consequence of the long periods of hospitalization
often experienced by them, most of the children have
suffered psychologically. Almost all the children show a
marked difference between their chronological and their
developmental age. Psychological distress and
disturbances of the sleeping-waking rhythm are very
typical in these children.
Our therapeutic program.
A fundamental aim of our work is therapeutic
intervention with regard to visually impaired or blind
children during their early childhood (between birth and
four years), including those cases in which the child
presents multiple handicaps.
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We give special importance to the parents' needs,
offering them psychological support and advice to help
them in day to day living with their child.
We base our program on the convinction that in every
child, notwithstanding the presence of a serious
handicap, there are numerous possibilities for
development. It is therefore a matter discovering this
potential by means of differentiated methods of
evalutation and by devising a program of rehabilitation
tailored to the needs of the child.
It is well-known that when babies are born their visual
functions are still incomplete and reach their full
development only through the visual stimuli received
spontaneously from the environment during the first
year of life. The visually impaired child is unable to
receive these stimuli unless they are presented to him
at times and under conditions which are particularly
favourable.