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Visual Impairments

Visual impairment means that a students vision and eyesight are in some way impaired and needs accommodations based upon those impairments, such as glasses or other types of corrective lenses.

The legal definition is based on visual acuity and field of vision

•A person whose visual acuity is 20/200 or less after the best possible correction with glasses or contact lenses is considered legally blind

•A person whose visual acuity is 20/70 in the better eye after correction is considered partially sighted for legal purposes

IDEA definitions of visual impairments emphasizes the relationship between vision and learning

•Totally blind: Receives no useful information through the sense of vision

•Functionally blind: Learns primarily through the auditory and tactile senses

•Low vision: Uses vision as a primary means of learning but may supplement by using tactile and auditory input

Characteristics

•Impaired or absent vision makes it difficult to see the connections between experiences

•Abstract concepts, analogies, and idiomatic expressions can be difficult to understand without sight

•Visual impairment often leads to delays and deficits in motor development

Social adjustment and interaction

•Children with visual impairments interact less and are often delayed in social skills

•Many persons who have lost their sight report that the biggest difficulty socially is dealing with the attitudes and behavior of those around them

Social Involvement

•Many cannot benefit from peers or adult role model because of the low incidence of the disability

•The inability to see and respond to the social signals of others reduces opportunities for reciprocal interactions

•Some individuals with visual impairments engage in repetitive body movements or other behaviors which places them at a great social disadvantage

•Many report the biggest difficulty socially is dealing with the attitudes and behavior of sighted people

Prevalence and Causes

Fewer than 2 children in 1000 have visual impairments

Many school age children with visual impairments also have another disability

Causes of visual impairments

•Refractive errors: Myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness)

•Structural impairments: Cataracts, glaucoma, nystagmus, strabismus

•Cortical visual impairments: Suspected damage to parts of brain that interpret visual information

Accomodations

Braille is the primary means of literacy for people who are blind

•Braille is a tactile system of reading and writing composed of raised dots

Tactile aids and Manipulative

Technological Aids for Reading Print

•Kurzweil 1000 - Optical character-recognition system

•Hardware/software that magnifies screen images

•Speech recognition software

•Software that converts text files to synthesized speech

Special Adaptations for Students with Low Vision

•Functional vision teaches the use of remaining vision

Optical devices

•Glasses and contact lenses

•Handheld telescopes or magnifiers

•Closed-circuit television systems

•Augmented reality systems

Approaches for Reading Print

•Approach magnification

•Lenses

•Large print

Classroom Adaptations

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