Chapter 6 (Part 1): Learners with difficulty Seeing

Reporter: AL-OBINAY, SORAYA D.

Terms that are often associated with having difficulty seeing:

• VISUAL ACUITY- refers to the ability to distinguish forms or discriminate among detail.
• LEGAL BLINDNESS- refers to having a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a corrective lens.
• PARTIALLY SIGHTED- Individuals are those whose visual acuity in the better eye after correction falls between 20/70 and 20/200.
• TUNNEL VISION- condition of having a perception of viewing the world through a narrow tube
.
 TOTAL BLINDNESS- refers to receiving no useful information through the sense of vision.
 FUNCTIONAL BLINDNESS- means having so little vision that one learns primarily through the tactile and auditory senses.
Characteristics of Learners with Difficulty Seeing:
Cognition and Language Motor Development and Mobility Social Adjustment and Interaction
Learners with difficulty seeing usually perform Blindness may also result to delays and deficits Children with visual impairment may engage
poorly compared to those with normal vision in in motor development. For instance, with in less play, which could affect their social
terms of cognitive task that require babies, purposeful movements involved skills development. Due to their lack of vision,
comprehension or relating various kinds of reading for objects that they could see. it is difficult for them to see and respond.
information.

Visual Impairment
• Is a wide range term of visual problems. It is a concept that includes categories such as total blindness as well as mild or severe cases.
• Visual impairments are prone to develop stereotypic behavior, such as repetitive body movements, including body rocking, eye pressing and
poking, hand flapping, and head weaving.

Types and Causes of Visual Impairment:

CONDITION Definition and Cause Remarks and Implication

AMBLYOPIA Caused by strabismus, unequal refractive Close work mar result in eye fatigue, loss of
errors, or opacity of the lens or cornea place, or poor concentration; seating should
favor the functional eye.
ASTIGMATISM Blurred vision caused by irregularities in the Loss of accommodation when objects are
cornea that produce images on retina not in brought close to the face; avoid long periods of
equal focus (refractive error) reading; child may complain of headaches and
fluctuating vision
CORTICAL VISUAL IMPAIRMENT Caused by damage of the visual cortex or optic Visual functioning may fluctuate depending on
(CVI) nerve; causes include anoxia, head injury and lighting conditions and attention; visual images
 infections.
HYPEROPIA (Farsightedness) Caused by a shorter than normal eye that
prevents light rays from converging on the
retina.
MUSCULAR DEGENERATION Central are of retina gradually deteriorates,
causing loss of clear vision in the center of the
visual field; common in older adults but fairly
rare in children
MYOPIA (Nearsightedness) Distant objects are blurred but near objects are
clear. Caused by an elongated eye that focuses
images in front of the retina.
NYSTAGMUS Rapid, involuntary, back- and- forth movement
of the eyes, which makes it difficult to focus on
objects.
STRABISMUS Inability to focus on the same object with both
eyes because of an inward or outward deviation
of one or both eyes; caused by muscle
imbalance
should be simple and presented singly
Loss of accommodation when objects are
brought close to the face; avoid long periods of
reading,
Tasks such as reading, and writing are difficult;
prescribed low-vision aid or closed- circuit TV;
provide good illumination; avoid glare
Encourage child to wear prescribed glasses or
contact lens.
Close tasks for extended period can lead to
fatigue; some children turn or tilt head to
obtain the best focus; do not criticize this
Classroom seating should favor student’s
stronger eye.

Identifying Learners with Difficulty Seeing

There are a number of indicators of visual impairment that parents and teachers need to be aware of. These indicators may be observed from the
student’s eye appearance and complaints when using eyes during desk work. There are also behavioral signs such as deficits in eye teaming abilities,
eye- hand coordination, visual form perception, as well as refractive status (e.g., nearsightedness, farsightedness, and focus problems) indicating
visual impairment (Bhargava, n.d; Elmwood Visual Resource Centre, n.d.).
In terms of eye appearance: In terms of behavioral signs: Other behavioral indicators: Problems with refractive
status:
 Turning of one eye in or • Turning of head as one reads  Deficits in eye- hand  Diminished
out at any time. across the page. coordination abilities comprehension
 Reddening of eyes or lids. • Frequently losing place during  Inability to keep  Mispronouncing similar
 Excessive tearing of eyes. reading. alignment. words
 Having encrusted eyelids. • Having short attention span in  Using the other hand  Excessive blinking when
reading or copying. as “spacer” and the doing desk work
Students complain about. • Frequent omission of words. other to keep place on  Closing one eye
 Headache Behavior signs that could indicate the page.  Making errors when
 Itching of eyes dysfunction in eye binocularity includes:  Repeatedly getting copying notes
 Feeling dizzy  Having double vision confused with left-  Requesting to move
 Blurring vision  Repeating/Omitting of letters right direction. closer
 Frequent squinting
  Extreme tilting of head  Failure to recognize  Constant rubbing of eyes
 Consistent gross postural same words  Easily being fatigued
deviations  Whispering to oneself when doing visual
for reinforcement activities
while reading silently.
 “Drawing with
fingers” in order to
decide likes and
differences.

The Snellen Chart

-Used to test visual acuity. It was developed by a Dutch ophthalmologist in 1962. It consists of rows of letter, with each row
corresponding to the distance that a normally sighted person could discriminate letter (Heward, 2017).

The Vision Services Severity Rating Scale (VSSRS)

-It was developed by the Michigan Department of Education (2013) in order to assist the Teacher Consultant for the visually Impaired (TCVI) in
making recommendations for services to students who are blind.