What you might notice
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Moderate vision impairment
Deterioration in academic performance that is due to visual behaviours include:
- Deteriorating handwriting
- Slowness in copying from the board
- Increasingly asking for written instructions to be given verbally
- Child or young person moving text closer to eyes or squinting
Moderate to severe vision impairment
- Problems accessing work from the board or print
- Problems identifying peers in the playground
- Becoming tired towards the end of the school day – this may be due to increased demands of concentrating on visual elements of learning
- Issues with self-esteem, emotional well-being and social interaction
Severe to profound vision impairment
In addition to the difficulties described for children or young people with mild to severe, the child or young person may:
- Have trouble accessing open areas – they may also be more prone to tripping over or having accidents whilst navigating the school/setting site
- Need access to print through Braille and may not be able to benefit from usual approaches to learning to read
- Have a severe impact on a learner’s ability to function independently in the school environment
- Need a high level of adult support in order to access the curriculum
- Need a high level of teaching of Braille outside the classroom environment and texts/diagrams produced in a tactile format
- Take longer to complete tasks, often in a different medium
- Need help with social interactions with their peers and help to fully develop an understanding of others
- Find it difficult to maintain positive self-esteem and social confidence.