Vision Impairment

Vision impairment is a term used to describe when an individual’s vision disorder affects the ability to function.

Specialist Behaviour Support Services and Speech Pathology

Young girl wearing glasses and using a magnifying glass because of her vision impairment

Definition of Vision Impairment

Vision plays an important role in our growth, development, and daily performance.  Vision impairment is a term used to describe when an individual’s vision disorder affects the ability to function.

Some visual impairments can be corrected with eyeglasses. The two most common difficulties are myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness). The eye is still capable of serving as a major channel for information processing. However, individuals with severe visual impairments have difficulty seeing, even with glasses or contact lenses.

The visual loss is so severe that their eyes can no longer serve as a major channel for information processing.

 

Causes of Vision Impairment

Visual impairment may arise from conditions such as:

  • Genetic conditions (e.g. Usher's syndrome, Gillespie syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa)
  • Neurological visual impairment caused by a disorder or injury that affects parts of the brain that control vision (e.g. Cortical visual impairment (CVI), delayed visual maturation, and cortical blindness) 
  • Illnesses that happen to some premature babies (e.g. Retinopathy of prematurity) or babies that have particular problems during their birth (e.g.  paediatric glaucoma)
  • Age-related deterioration (e.g. macular degeneration)
  • Traumatic injury to the eye

 

Types of Vision Impairment

There are many different types of visual impairment, which results in a wide range of visual capacities, depending on the degree of their functional vision, visual efficiency, age of onset, effects of additional disabilities and the demands of their environment.

 

Symptoms of Vision Impairment

Possible signs of visual impairment include:

  • Rubbing eyes during or after short periods of visual activity
  • Bumping or tripping into things regularly
  • Difficulty moving around unfamiliar places
  • Difficulty coping and seeing in low light or bright light
  • Holding book too closely; placing face too close to surface, or sitting up close to technology 
  • Problems seeing in low light or bright light
  • Difficulty identifying faces, facial expressions or making eye contact
  • Trouble with identifying colours
  • Relying primarily on touch to find and identify items

Behaviour Help

If you are supporting an individual with this diagnosis, please refer to our services and resources. They aim to help children, adolescents and adults achieve better communication, social, emotional, behavioural and learning outcomes. So whether you are wanting guidance on parenting, teaching, supporting or providing therapy, Behaviour Help is at hand.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of all the possible causes, symptoms and types but some general information that can be further explored. Based on what you have read if you have any concerns about an individual, please raise them with the individual/s. The caregiver can then raise these concerns with their local doctor who can provide a referral to the relevant professional (e.g. paediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, allied health professional and learning specialists) for diagnosis and treatment if appropriate.

Which resources are right for you?

Apps

Based on the Taking CHARGE of Rainbow of Emotions Workbook this app helps children of all ages develop emotional regulation skills. The app guides the child to firstly, identify and express their emotion in appropriate ways. Then the child is guided to use emotional management tool/s from the CHARGE tool kit to manage their emotions in a healthy way.

The acronym CHARGE stands for the different categories of emotional management tools – Chat tools, Helpful thinking tools, Amusement tools, Relaxation tools, Good routine tools and Exercise tools.

Behaviour Help App - Using the evidence-based approach of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), the Behaviour Help web-based app allows people supporting individuals with emotional and behavioural difficulties to complete a Functional Behaviour Analysis and put together a comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan (BSP). The BSP can then be used by everyone interacting with the individual to manage and prevent challenging behaviours and ultimately improve their lives, and the lives of those who support them.

Rainbow of Emotions App Behaviour Help App

Books

If you want to learn more about emotional and behavioural difficulties then we have a great range of books you can read on your Kindle or order from Amazon.

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Coaching

Personalised and practical one to one help tailored specifically to your family.

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Online Courses

Access these online courses anytime online to learn about a range of diagnoses, practical skills and strategies to help develop the individual’s emotional regulation skills. Also learn to utilise the positive behaviour support framework to address anxiety, aggression, ADHD, ASD and ODD.

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SEL Educational Videos

Minimise or eliminate the occurrence of challenging behaviours by teaching children of all ages appropriate ways of communicating, interacting, managing their emotions and behaviours.

The SEL curriculum uses video modelling to provide direct, explicit and systematic teaching of the various skills by discussing the importance of the skill, modelling the skill so the child learns what the skill looks like? sounds like? feels like? and learn the skill in staged situations that simulate real life scenarios.

SEL Educational Videos

Therapy

Personalised and practical behaviour therapy tailored specifically to your family.

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Webinars

Webinars discuss a range of practical strategies to guide your child learn positive ways of behaving and managing their emotions.

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Workshops

Attend our practical and interactive workshops to learn about a range of diagnoses, practical skills and strategies to help develop the individual’s emotions, behaviours, social and communication skills in your learning environment.

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Ask Dolly

Since you’re here, you probably have questions and concerns. I am Dolly Bhargava, am here to help. I am a NDIS registered behaviour support practitioner and speech pathologist.

I have worked in a number of settings for over 21 years so, how can I help?

Please tell me what is worrying you right now and I will do my best to recommend resources and/or services that will be most useful to you in your situation.

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