• Low Vision Services

    Vision services teach specific skills to students with visual impairments to help them successfully access curriculum and materials in the school environment. These services teach remedial and/or adaptive strategies to use his/her vision more efficiently. These strategies may include using optical devices recommended by a doctor, such as glasses or using a magnifier to see things close up (print/pictures in a book or on the bulletin board). If appropriate, braille may be introduced, as well as pre-literacy skills using braille. Students receiving vision services undergo an assessment to identify areas of need. The vision specialist then develops goals and decides level/type of services needed. 

    There are different kinds of cases and diagnosis with regards to visual impairments that have been catered in the program and some of them are as follows:

    1. Students with Left Hemisphere stroke with a seizure disorder that affect student’s visual field the "spatial array of visual sensations”
    2. Students who have a diagnosis of quadriplegic cerebral palsy due to neonatal stroke. Since the brain was being injured, some of them have been diagnosed as a child with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI). This means that the eyes may be structurally healthy, however, the brain is unable to interpret what is being seen. The vision loss may be often variable from day to day and the loss may be permanent or resolve itself partially or completely. 
    3. Students with high myopia or nearsightedness which is a problem with focusing that makes distant objects appear blurry. That even with corrected glasses or contacts vision was not yet improved
    4. Students with hyperopia or farsightedness, a vision condition in which you can see distant objects clearly, but objects nearby may be blurry.
    5. Students with “crossed eyed”, “squint” or “walled-eyed”, this vision conditions result when both eyes are unable to align simultaneously. These are the eyes that turn in, out, up or down.
    6. Students who have a diagnosis with retinal detachment, a thin layer of nerve tissue in the back of the eye pulls away from its normal spot. 

    Sight is a crucial aspect of learning and without being to see, much of the world is unknown. Thus, it is the job of the vision teacher to evaluate the learning need of these students and to tailor a personalized education program to support instruction. These groups of students receive a comprehensive education while also teaching them strategies to live a full life, regardless of their disability.