Visual impairment - please help! To Ed Psych or not Ed Psych?

[LightAFire]

I just posted this in chat and realised I should have gone for children instead! So I will put here too in the hope that someone can help:

Hello there, I'd be very grateful for some advice. A very close friend of mine has a DS with a visual impairment. He copes very well with day to day life, but in a way this makes it harder as people tend to assume he will be fine. Unsurprisingly, he found learning to read pretty hard, and particularly making the switch from "sounding out" to sight recognising.

In school, he has been seen as "not meeting expectations" and struggling to concentrate and they seemed to think he wasn't very bright, although his mum (and I - I'm a primary teacher BTW) disagreed. The only help he is given visually are his glasses/lenses and the occasional enlarging of texts. After many meetings etc and a better teacher this year, his school have now recognised that he is indeed bright. He has made a lot of progress this year but is still having to play "catch up". They still seem to feel his main issues are immaturity/concentration, but I can't help wondering what effect his eye problem must be having in making that harder for him. (His auditory memory is excellent.) His spelling is weak and his written output is poor as a result, and he has a number of dyslexia-like symptoms such as reversal of letters and numbers, but again this could just be the eye issue. We are starting to worry about KS2, since there will be more and more reading/writing and more board work too.

My friend doesn't know what to do next - he is under hospital care for his eyes and has a VI team from the LEA involved, BUT the person who normally does VI educational stuff has been absent for months. My friend suggested a private ed psych to the school (she found one with VI experience) but the school asked her to delay it. I (cynically!) suspect this is because they knew hadn't done enough - since then they have put in reward schemes (finally!) to help with concentration, which has had some effect. The problem is that the school keep saying "he is coping" and are unwilling to do much more to support him. Yes he copes, but we are worried this is a strain for him and these coping mechanisms may fail later on, especially if he doesn't get the basics in now.

So my question is - what should she do? Persuade the school to accept the private ed pysch, or get medical reports confirming his areas of weakness? I think she needs a report of some sort spelling out his needs (possibly tech like a magnifier and/or support), so who is the best person to ask? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi eggandcress and starlight I am definitely going to go down this route. I am tracking down the SENCO. Teacher today was very receptive to ideas so I am hoping she will be supportive of process. I will keep you posted on progress. I am going to download IPSEA form and have it ready.

Good on you Funbird

Go for it

Feel free to ask any questions on here as well

Hi, I've just joined. My son is visually impaired and whilst at first it was difficult getting him the support in school now he has the help he needs. He has a magnifier and enlarged print when needed. Also he sits at front of class so he's nearer to the board. He also has the use of an iPad in school. He writes with a bold black pen so that it makes it a bit easier to see what he's writing. He is very photophobic so wears a peak hat. I also felt school didn't always take on board or appreciate his visual impairment because he looked 'normal' (that word bugs me!) and he did appear to be coping. But now he's older his visual impairment shows a lot more in that he is not progressing as much as his peers.

The consultant can write to the school detailing what support is needed as school as they wrote to my sons school. Or an optometrist could write to school. These would both be free of charge (as NHS). So that would be an option.

For my son depth perception is a big issue so they arranged for mobility training for him to help with getting around school and steps etc..

What is your friends child's visual acuity? And eye condition?

Good luck :)

Hi ladies. My son has cataracts which were operated at 10 & 11 weeks. His visual acuity we think is 6/9 whatever that means. He has no ability to focus his vision. He wears lenses and over readers for class work. His basic prescription is plus 25. We are just looking into visual aids as we come to the end of year two. We have had mobility training and help. The main issue is the educational support. His current teacher is seeming to get it with just over half a term to go.

Your advice is really useful. I have passes on a lots of your thoughts to his teacher. It has taken two years to get past the silly boy label. I hit breaking point at parents evening when I was told he was doing as we'll as can be expected. To which I nearly lost my temper along with the comment that he is dipping. I think we get the same issue as you with the looking normal. It really annoys me that people think that a physical disability means a child will achieve less educationally.

Sorry that was a bit of a rant. It is good to get it out of your system.

funbird, we have an ongoing chatty thread for those of us with dcs with a vi here if you want to join us

in practical terms the visual acuity 6/9 means that with best corrected vision your ds would be able to see something clearly from 6m away when someone without a vi would see the same thing clearly 9m away. Although I think where cataracts are involved the visual acuity can be misleading as it doesn't take into account the inability to alter where you can focus.

Hi Ninja (love your user name). Thank you for the invite to the other thread. It is an interesting world of VI.

As this is a hereditary condition you would think I world know more about assistance. I went through the special school system and this weirdly limits my knowledge of how to get help in the mainstream world. My family had social workers and health assistants. It is mad how much the world of support has changed in 35 years.