Visual Impairments Presentation completed by Marjorie N. Boeshansz EDSP 578

Just the Facts 4 Sources reveal that 80% of everything that a child learns is acquired through his or her visual system 4 What would happen if I took away your visual systems… 4 Time for an activity...

Lessons from the simulation 4 How did this activity make you feel 4 how much do you really rely on your visual systems? 4 Doesn’t this activity make you realize how important vision is to your education!

What is a Visual Impairment? A visual impairment means even after correction a child’s visual functioning significantly adversely affects his or her education.

Three types of Visual Impairments. 4 Functional Blindness- uses Braille but has vision for environmental tasks 4 Low Vision-can read with magnification or environmental modification and.. 4 Totally blind- must use hands and ears for learning; no input through vision

Characteristics of Visual Impairments… 4 Limitations in range and variety of experiences. –People with visual impairments can not always rely on their other senses for input buildings are too tall to touch fire is too hot to touch the sun is too far away

Characteristics of Visual Impairments 4 Limitations in mobility –individuals who have impairments are limited in their movement through space child may not be able to move through the environment properly as a result of poor distance acuity or depth perception

Characteristics of Visual Impairments 4 Limitations in environmental interactions –often children who are visually impaired have a difficult time interacting with others appropriately or even playing with specific toys

Another Simulation... 4 As a result of receiving unclear, incomplete or no visual input, a visual impairment can adversely affect object knowledge, social interactions and career development 4 to give you an idea of how difficult it is to only get information verbally, I want us to do another activity… this time we get to stretch our creative side...

The simulation- draw a house! 4 Draw a circle at the top right of your paper 4 next, in the center of the paper make a medium size triangle 4 then, at the bottom of the triangle make a medium size square 4 Inside the square toward the top make two small squares and have them next to each other 4 Inside the medium square and underneath the two small squares, draw a vertical rectangle 4 Now add grass to your lovely house!!!

Identifying the Causes 4 Because so many parts of the eye and Brain must work together in order for us to see well, there are three main ways for vision to be impaired... –Structural Impairments –Refractive Errors –Cortical Visual Impairments

Structural Impairments –Damage to one or more parts of the eye 4 Cataracts: cloudiness of the crystalline lens of the eye 4 Glaucoma: the pressure from fluid inside the eye is too high 4 Strabismus: “crossed eyes” 4 Albinism: decrease pigmentation in the eyes

Refractive Errors –Refractive errors are those that include the inability to sharply focus images 4 Nearsightedness: the inability to see objects far away 4 Farsightedness: the inability to see objects in close proximity 4 Astigmatism: a misshape of the eye

Cortical Visual Impairments –Are the result of damage to the vision center of the brain due to trauma or malformation

Do you qualify for a visual Impairment? 4 THE LAW –the law says, “that local educational agencies shall ensure that, at a minimum, test and other evaluation materials must be validated and tailored to assess specific areas of educational need for individual students with visual impairments.” 4 A Nondiscriminatory evaluation

Types of evaluations –An IEP team may identify a child as having a visual impairment after three types of evaluations… –Functional vision evaluation –Optometrist evaluation –Orientation and mobility evaluation

Functional vision evaluations 4 Medical information- visual acuity measures, field loss information, and refractive corrections 4 Formal/ informal assessments- eye preference, color vision, observations in various situations 4 Educational and curricular implications- types of learning media

Optometrist evaluations 4 Diagnose eye conditions and examine the health of the eye, as well as to give prognosis of the visual field

Orientation and mobility evaluations 4 Evaluates child to determine if there are related mobility needs in home, school, or community

What happens after the evaluation 4 Specific services for the child can be identified –homebound instruction –special day services –resource room –regular classroom –48% of children with visual impairments are served in the general education classroom!!!

Teacher interventions 4 Environmental considerations 4 Instructional considerations 4 Social skill development 4 Material considerations

Environmental Considerations 4 Seat the student close to the Board 4 Seat the student with back to the light 4 Keep supplies in the same place

Instructional Considerations 4 Read written directions aloud 4 Plan evaluations to be on tape or orally 4 Assist the student in actively developing listening skills

Social Development 4 Teach proper postures and customs 4 Teach proper mannerisms 4 Decrease habits such as head rolling or rocking back and forth

Material considerations 4 Large print books 4 concrete objects or manipulatives 4 speech computers 4 use of computers to do work 4 Optical devices- magnifiers and microscopes 4 Have a person to take notes

THE END –That’s all folks!

Sources… (american foundation for the blind) 4 wps.prenhall.com/chet_turnbull_exceptional_4/0,8158, navbar,00.html 4 (texas school for the blind) 4 (national information center for children and youth) 4 lecture notes, marta roth 2003, edsp Turnbull, A. P., Turnbull, H.R., Shank, M & Smith J. (2002). Exceptional lives: Special education in todays schools. (3rd Ed.). Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 4 Children with visual impairments: a parents guide M. Clay Holbrook Ph.D