The terms partially sighted, low vision, legally blind, and totally blind are used in the schools to describe students with visual impairments. They are defined as follows:
- "Partially sighted" is some type of visual problem that has resulted in a need for special education;
- "Low vision" generally refers to a severe visual impairment, not necessarily limited to distance vision. Low vision applies to all individuals with sight who are unable to read the newspaper at a normal viewing distance, even with the aid of eyeglasses or contact lenses. They use a combination of vision and other senses to learn, although they may require adaptations in lighting or the size of print, and, sometimes, braille
- "Legally blind" means that a person has less than 20/200 vision in the better eye or a very limited field of vision (20 degrees at its widest point);
- Totally blind students learn via braille or other non-visual media.
If a child's vision can be corrected with glasses or contacts, this is not considered a visual impairment. Although a child may have a vision problem that can be corrected by glasses, if he or she does not have glasses, the child will be at a disadvantage in the classroom.
I don't think I'm a bad parent. I love my little girl. I make her do her homework every night and it is a struggle. She works for half an hour, does one page, jumps up like she has springs on her bottom and sits down on the couch to watch TV. I make her get up and go back to the table. She whines and asks for a snack. It can take two hours or more for her to get her homework done. She rubs at her eyes a lot, which I assumed was from allergies. Her dad has allergies to all kinds of things. The last time she was sick, the doctor did an eye exam as part of her physical. She suggested taking my daughter to an optometrist. As soon as the optometrist started the test, I knew something was wrong because Julia missed most of the letters on the chart. He said she was very far-sighted and could not read at all without working hard to focus her eyes. After half an hour, she would be tired and have to rest her eyes. He told me we were really lucky we caught her young before she just started to hate school because reading was such an effort for her. The scary part is, if she hadn't happened to catch the flu, I never would have taken her to the doctor and it could have been a year or more before she got her glasses.
Children should be screened regularly to identify vision problems as soon as possible. Free screening is available for students or consumers through Head Start, Early Head Start, Early Childhood Tracking and Vocational Rehabilitation.
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Visual Impairment in Adults |