According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 6.8% of children younger than 18 years in the United States have a diagnosed eye and vision condition and 3% of children younger than 18 years are blind and visually impaired. Visual disability is one of the most prevalent disabilities disabilities among children.
According to IDEA’s definition, visual impairment is defined s including blindness means an impairment in vision that even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The World Health Organization (WHO), classifies visual impairment as occurring when an eye condition affects the visual system and one or more of its vision includes both partial sight and blindness
Classifications
The World Health Organization uses the following classification based on visual acuity in the better eye:
20/30 to 20/60- mild vision impairment
20/70 to 20/160- moderate visual impairment
20/200 to 20/400- severe visual impairment
20/500 to 20/1,000- profound visual impairment
More than 20/1,000- considered near-total visual impairment
No light perception- considered total visual impairment or total blindness
Types of Visual Impairment
Strabismus– a condition when the eyes do not align with each other (crossed eyes)
Congenital cataracts– a clouding of the eyes natural lens present a birth.
Retinopathy of prematurity– a blinding disorder that affects prenatal infants that are born before 31 week of gestation.
Coloboma- a condition where normal tissue in or around the eye is missing at birth.
Cortical visual impairment– a visual impairment that occurs due to brain injury.
Signs of Visual Impairments
Appears “clumsy” in new situation
Shows signs of fatigue or inattentiveness
Does not pay attention when information is on the chalkboard or reading material
Is unable to see distant things clearly
Squints
Eyes may appear crossed
Complains of dizziness.
Causes
The causes of childhood blindness or visual impairment is often caused by Vitamin A deficiency which is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children. Other causes include genetics, diabetes, injury and infections such as congenital rubella syndrome and chickenpox before birth.
Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI)
Cortical Visual Impairment in children is attributed to brain dysfunction rather than issues with the eyes. Causes included hypoxia, traumatic brain injury, neonatal hypoglycemia, infections and cardiac arrest.
According to IDEA’s definition, visually impairment is defined as including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness. There are 3 types of blindness including The types of vision impairments are low visual acuity, blindness, and legal blindness (which varies for each country): Low visual acuity, also known as moderate visual impairment, is a visual acuity between 20/70 and 20/400 with your best corrected vision, or a visual field of no more than 20 degrees.
The following articles and links provide resources on teaching students with visual impairments.
Teaching Strategies
The following are articles that provide tips and resources on teaching students with visual impairments.
Studies show that a small subgroup of individuals with visual impairments are also diagnosed with autism. The following articles are a great read in understanding visual impairments and autism.
January is Braille Literacy Month. Invented by Louis Braille, at the age of 15 years old while attending the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. Braille lost his sight during a childhood accident at the age of 4. Braille is not a language, rather it is a code that uses symbols formed within units of space that consists of six raised dots , 2 across and 3 down. Below are resources on braille information.
Braille Resources for Special Education Teachers
Path of Literacy Website for students who are blind and visually impaired. Includes teaching strategies on tactile production various braille designs.
Teaching Students with Visual Impairments Provides resources necessary to teach visual impaired students including teaching strategies and professional development opportunities.
The following organizations focus on braille resources and information that serves children and adults with visual impairments including developing teaching materials.
Braille Authority of North America he purpose of BANA is to promote and to facilitate the uses, teaching, and production of braille. Pursuant to this purpose, BANA will promulgate rules, make interpretations, and render opinions pertaining to braille codes and guidelines for the provisions of literary and technical materials and related forms and formats of embossed materials now in existence or to be developed in the future for the use of blind persons in North America.
Braille Institute Is a non-profit organization that offers a broad range of services serving thousands of students of all ages to empower themselves to live more enriching lives with blindness and vision loss.
National Braille Association National Braille Association, founded in 1945, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing continuing education to those who prepare braille, and to providing braille materials to persons who are visually impaired.
The following laws and regulations authorize the provision of library services to people who are blind, visually impaired or have a physical disability:
Act of March 3, 1931 Authorization of the Library of Congress to provide books for the use of adult blind residents of the United States.
Public Law 89-522 Amends the Acts of March 3, 1981 and October 9, 1962 relating to the furnishing of books and other material to the blind.
U.S. Code Sec. 135a– Authorizes books and sound reproduction records for blind and others with physical disabilities.
The American Disability Act (ADA) requirements for effective communication in the workplace to provide accommodations for people with visual impairments are able to communicate with people effectively.
For people who are blind, have vision loss, or are deaf-blind, this includes providing a qualified reader; information in large print, Braille, or electronically for use with a computer screen-reading program; or an audio recording of printed information. A “qualified” reader means someone who is able to read effectively, accurately, and impartially, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.
For people who are deaf, have hearing loss, or are deaf-blind, this includes providing a qualified note taker; a qualified sign language interpreter, oral interpreter, cued-speech interpreter, or tactile interpreter; real-time captioning; written materials; or a printed script of a stock speech (such as given on a museum or historic house tour). A “qualified” interpreter means someone who is able to interpret effectively, accurately, and impartially, both receptively (i.e., understanding what the person with the disability is saying) and expressively (i.e., having the skill needed to convey information back to that person) using any necessary specialized vocabulary.
For people who have speech disabilities, this may include providing a qualified speech-to-speech translator (a person trained to recognize unclear speech and repeat it clearly) , especially if the person will be speaking at length, such as giving testimony in court, or just taking more time to communicate with someone who uses a communication board. In some situations, keeping paper and pencil on hand so the person can write out words that staff cannot understand or simply allowing more time to communicate with someone who uses a communication board or device may provide effective communication. Staff should always listen attentively and not be afraid or embarrassed to ask the person to repeat a word or phrase they do not understand.
In addition, aids and services include a wide variety of technologies including 1) assistive listening systems and devices; 2) open captioning, closed captioning, real-time captioning, and closed caption decoders and devices; 3) telephone handset amplifiers, hearing-aid compatible telephones, text telephones (TTYs) , videophones, captioned telephones, and other voice, text, and video-based telecommunications products; 4) videotext displays; 5) screen reader software, magnification software, and optical readers; 6) video description and secondary auditory programming (SAP) devices that pick up video-described audio feeds for television programs; 7) accessibility features in electronic documents and other electronic and information technology that is accessible (either independently or through assistive technology such as screen readers) .
