The program of sound stimulation has come out of the necessity of the work with blind children.

The program is used both in individual and group work with the visually impaired children, in order to develop their hearing perception, their memory by listening, the localization of the sound source and the sounds discrimination. The sound stimulation enhances the children’s curiosity, imagination and the freedom of expression and movement.

The program can also be used to help blinded persons. It can be used as an additional activity in integrating them into the every day life, improving their orientation by the sound sources.

The sound stimulation program can contribute to the development of the sensomotoric abilities and speech in the mentally retarded children, the autistic children, the children with the hearing impairments, speech handicapped children, as well as multiply disabled children.

The program should support experiencing various concepts, spatial orientation, speech development from beginning to the full naming of the objects, the forming of sentences and independent verbal expression, the overcoming of the fears coming out of the unknown.

The program should be led by professional, a therapist. The leader gives instructions and courageous a child to identify the sound and sound source. The children’s attention is directed to the sounds and they should respond to what they’ve heard, or imitate it by their voices and their movements. In the case of the partially sighted children, the sound is related to the picture. While the sound is performed, the child should show and adequate picture. If a child hasn’t recognized the sound, the leader goes on performing it and supports the child with the suitable suggestions. The children   should enjoy the session of the encouraging work with the sounds.

The leader should plan the work according to the individual treatment plan and should follow up the progress of each child.

The sound stimulation program is achieved by:
“The World of Sound” and “The Sound Stories”

“The World of Sounds” and “The Sound Stories” contain the simplest sounds the complex ones, those displaying various activities and situations these sounds are mainly close to the children’s experience, but there are mysterious ones, that children should be introduced to.

This program is applied in the individual and group work with the visually impaired children and multiply visually handicapped children in the School for the visually impaired children “Veljko Ramadanovic” in Zemun, Yugoslavia.