Good question: How do you stop a child from doing those things that a) look weird to sighted people, b) may cause physical harm or c) may prevent them from fully participating in society?
The answer is, really, that you don't. You HELP them learn not to do those things, and parents and teachers have used many different methods to help their charges NOT engage in blindisms.
For a very young child who can't be reasoned with, a physical barrier may be the only solution. We tried a lot of things when my son was very little. Most of them didn't work.
Greg was an eye presser. We tried something called "no-nos" which could only be gotten by prescription and were basically a piece of plastic with Velcro fastenings which prevented a child's elbow from bending, hence - so we thought - he wouldn't be able to get his hands to his face and therefore - we thought - he couldn't reach his eyes. It did work, for about 2 weeks, until he was strong enough and/or smart enough to break the grip of the Velcro.
Then I tried making my own "no-nos" out of a softer material so it wouldn't be so annoying to him and hopefully just be a little uncomfortable so the fun of eyepressing - whatever he was getting out of it - wouldn't be worth the bother. What I didn't know was that the drive to get stimulation or whatever is attractive about eye pressing was a REALLY powerful drive, and may explain why there are plenty of adult blind people who still do these behaviors - it's a tough habit to break.
Then we tried to get a prescription helmet with a face shield. I got some really weird responses from the physical therapist who had to measure Greg's head for it - he didn't seem to think there was a need for it. The helmet cost (insurance) $600, it was hideous, and took six months to arrive. By that time, of course, it no longer fit.
In the meantime I was desperate. I made a "Lili Neilsen Little Room" on a vest for those long drives to Royal Oak to see his eye surgeon. I had a lot of things sewn onto it to keep his hands busy - big buttons, sewing machine bobbins, lace, corduroy, webbing, elastic, etc. which helped a little, but still wasn't the answer completely. (Dr. Lili Nielsen is a Danish researcher who has successfully helped many multiply impaired children - especially those who are also blind or visually impaired - to learn to do things most "experts" thought impossible. You should be able to look her up on the web.)
On to what did work: a pair of "Rec Specs", in a very small size (I actually started with racquetball goggles) , with extra straps sewn on over the top of his head and under his chin, and a child's bike helmet over the top of that. Mission accomplished. He could not get his little hands up underneath this contraption and it looked pretty sporty, too.
Greg did continue to do some eyepressing at night, when the helmet and goggles just were too draconian, and once we felt we could take off the goggles and helmet we continued to have to use verbal reminders - a lot - and sometimes take away privileges for eyepressing. We could tell when he was doing it behind our backs because the skin around his eyes would look red and dark. We got some just cheap plain lens glasses to help remind him, which also served to provide a little protection from running into objects face first. Another family used those plastic side shields that fit on the bows of your glasses (you can get these for safety in industrial settings) and that seemed to help remind their daughter not to poke.
Greg tells us that he finally quit for good in middle school. By that time it was his decision. He knew it just wasn't cool to do, and that it made his eyes look weird to other people, and that it could cause more damage. I know a young man who finally quit when he was in his late twenties. It was important to HIM to quit.
It really is a matter of us helping our child learn not to do it!
Monday's blog will deal with the other kinds of blindisms like rocking and spinning and jumping - I hope you can wait until then!
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