Functional Vision Assessment

1. Functional Vision Assessment Judy Bell Independent Education Consultant - Visual Impairment & Complex Needs

2. Some Questions • What is functional vision assessment (FVA)? • What is the difference between FVA & clinical vision assessment? • Who can undertake FVA? • Who can be usefully assessed? Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

3. Processes involved in FVA • Collection of background information • Observations of a child’s visual behaviour in particular settings • Structured intervention to manipulate the setting, circumstances or variables Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

4. What are the variables? Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

5. Child variables • Health • Comfort • Hunger • Tiredness • Nature of VI – ocular, cerebral or combination • Use of glasses or lenses Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

6. Environmental variables • Time • Place • Competing stimuli • Lighting Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

7. Stimulus variables • Luminescence: light producing, reflecting, floresence • Distance: from eyes • Size & shape: diameter in cms, regularity • Direction & angle: left, right, central, up, down • Colour: strong, pastel, florescent • Pattern: concentric, grid, stripes, representational • Contrast: background, internal: high, low: colour or b&w • Movement: speed, direction, starting/finishing, nature • Nature: familiarity, association, object, picture, photo • Sound: alerting, constant, intermittent, type Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

8. Functional vision skills 1 • Light perception • Visual awareness of stimulus • Contrast sensitivity • Fixation/attention/visual interest/gaze • Eye movements: location, saccades, tracking • Visual fields & peripheral vision • Colour vision • Tolerance of light Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

9. Functional vision skills 2 • Directed reach • Visually directed movement • Joint attention • Visual recognition • Speed of visual response Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

10. Features of a good FVA report 1 • Name, address & d.o.b. of child • Date(s) & time(s) of assessment • How & from whom information gathered • Description of environment(s) in which assessment(s) undertaken • Demeanour of child during the assessment • Description of a.)child’s responses to Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

11. Features of a good FVA report 2 • Description of: a.) child’s responses to b.) specific stimuli • Interpretation of observations • Recommendations • Name, signature & designation of assessor/report compiler • Date of report! Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

12. Some FVA Frameworks • Cortical Visual Impairment:An Approach to Assessment and Intervention Author: Christine Roman-LantzyPrice: $49.95Format: Paperback (also available in: ASCII on CD-ROM)ISBN: 978-0-89128-829-9Publisher: AFB PressYear of publication: 2007 • This is VERY detailed &, in its purest form,requires a lot of assessment and recording time. It is a framework for functional assessment and intervention, and is not standardized. Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

13. Some FVA Frameworks - cont’d • Vision for Doing: Assessing functional vision of learners who are multiply disabled Authors: Stuart Aitken & Marianna Buultjens Moray House Publications, Edinburgh 1992 ISBN 0901580392 Downloadable from: www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/resources/vi&multi/visionbook.pdf Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

14. Assessing functional vision Children with complex needs This booklet explores the different factors that affect what a child sees, such as the size, colour and position of an object, backgrounds, lighting condition and how much time a child is given to make sense of what is presented. The assessment activities have proved useful for assessing children with a wide variety of abilities, needs and interest and are designed to enable you to establish a baseline of visual functioning. Author: Catherine SouthwellPublisher: RNIB Publication Date: 2003 ED406: Clear Print (Paperback) 56 Pages ISBN: 1858785987 Price: £12.50 (Inc. VAT) Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

15. Some FVA Frameworks - cont’d • Functional Vision Profile Judy Bell – CDRom in process A means of creating a functional vision ‘passport’ through provision of a set of descriptors which have to be personalised by the assessor. Descriptors can be deleted, expanded or new ones can be added. The descriptors act as pointers to the skills and variables that need to be considered. Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

16. Some FVA Tools • Materials produced by Lea Hyvarinen www.lea-test.fi Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN

17. Finally - Some words of warning! • A FVA can only be considered as a snapshot of a child’s visual functioning at a given point in time, under a given set of circumstances • The purpose for which a FVA is required & the needs of the child should inform the nature of the assessment. One size does not necessarily fit all! • Good FVA supports informs successful intervention – it is not an intervention in itself. Judy Bell - Independent education consultant: VI & CN