The fundamental role of vision during development and the nurturing role of early intersubjectivity have enabled the Robert Hollman Foundation to develop an early intervention program providing holistic support to visually impaired children and their families, where fostering parent-infant interactions is at the heart of our care. The aim of this study is to understand how parents perceive this approach. It is an eleven-year retrospective study of children following the Robert Hollman Foundation’s early intervention program, in which parents’ (n = 1086) perceptions of quality of care were measured through the administration of a specifically designed 4-point scale questionnaire. Annual longitudinal trends of parents’ perceptions were calculated for every single response. Parents reported a very high satisfaction value in 21/23 questions (Mean > 3.7 out of a maximum score of 4, with the highest scores in human and soft skills of professionals) with a statistically positive trend (p < 0.05), throughout the period considered. Our core approach, based on an individualized nurturing relational support, has been appreciated and confirmed by the high satisfaction reported in the questionnaires by parents of children with visual impairment. We therefore hypothesize that parent-infant relationship-based and individualized approaches may help parents achieve better health, well-being, and quality of daily life for their children.

This is a qualitative study that gives voice to 33 siblings of children with visual impairment in care at the Robert Hollman Foundation, focusing on their relationships with their brothers/sisters. Participants aged 7 to 22 recounted their daily life experiences and perspectives, expressing their feelings during semi-structured individual interviews. Data were analyzed according to the thematic analysis in the conceptual framework of ‘the new sociology of childhood’. The vast majority of siblings showed a special relationship with their brother/sister, characterized by unconditional love and willingness to help. Different emotions, such as happiness, empathy, sorrow and sadness, were expressed as well as how the experience of being siblings of children with visual impairment shapes their attitudes, highlighting a number of needs in some of the subjects.

The Robert Hollman Foundation (RHF) designed “Hollman Facilitations” (HF), a user-friendly way of supporting children with visual impairment (VI) and their families on a daily basis. This tool consists of specifically designed pictures on simple A4 sheets, which highlight with images and captions the key aspects of these children's everyday lives. Professionals can easily modify Hollman Facilitations to customize them to the unique developmental needs of every single child with VI and to their individualized strengths and weaknesses. This type of support acts as a reminder, to help families keep in mind what is essential for their children with VI in everyday life. HF are also useful for professionals because they give a clear, at-a-glance overview of the needs of visually impaired children, helping their communication with their families. In order to understand the perceived effectiveness of this tool, a questionnaire was designed and sent to 49 families, asking their opinions and satisfaction levels regarding its clarity, adequacy, usability and usefulness. 36 parents answered reporting overall very high satisfaction levels. A second questionnaire was sent to 29 RHF professionals to collect their opinions regarding HF usability and usefulness and the majority of them was very satisfied of its use in their daily work. This data supports overall this tool, which can be also easily replicated and also potentially used in other settings, beyond the field of visual impairment.

Social play has a key role in the development of social skills in child development, especially in early and middle childhood through peer interaction. Siblings serve very often as children’s first peers, shaping each other’s overall development throughout life. This mixed study investigates the quality of sibling relationships by giving voice to siblings with and without visual impairment, with a focus on the role of social play in their daily lives. Our findings confirm a harmonious relationship quality and the importance of social play in the sibling bond, suggesting that social play may serve as a protective factor for their mental health.