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Iowa's pediatric low-vision services
M E Wilkinson1, I W Stewart, C S Trantham
1Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, Iowa City, USA.
Insights
Comprehensive, multidisciplinary low-vision services are crucial for children with visual impairments. These services optimize development and educational outcomes, reducing costs associated with special education.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Optometry
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Special Education
Background:
- Limited literature exists on best practices for evaluating and managing pediatric visual impairments.
- There's a need for information on optimizing vision to support development and education for visually impaired children.
Observation:
- An itinerant low-vision service program in Iowa evaluated 1,348 children over 18 years.
- A traditional low-vision clinic model was insufficient for the pediatric population's needs.
Findings:
- Program modifications led to expanded and diversified low-vision services for students.
- Multidisciplinary team roles and impacts on large-print material usage were analyzed.
Implications:
- Ongoing, comprehensive low-vision care, including optometry, is essential for children's educational and vocational success.
- Effective low-vision services can reduce special education costs, such as large-print material expenses.
Background:
Reports in the literature concerning best practice for the evaluation and management of children with visual impairments are limited, with a resulting lack of information concerning the potential for optimizing vision to enhance general development and assist with the educational needs of this population.
Method:
The development of a multidisciplinary approach to provide low-vision services for children with visual impairment has occurred over the past 18 years in Iowa. In that time, 1,348 children from around the state of Iowa have been evaluated through an itinerant low-vision service program, coordinated by the Iowa Braille School.
Results:
A low-vision clinic model--designed to provide services (primarily) for academic students--was not meeting the needs of the pediatric low-vision population in the state. After a statewide review of the program, changes were made that have resulted in low-vision services being provided to a greater and more diverse number of students. The roles of the various members of the multidisciplinary team will be reviewed. Changes in large-print orders and use by special education teachers in the state as a direct result of the low-vision services will also be discussed.
Conclusion:
Ongoing, comprehensive multidisciplinary low-vision services--including optometric low-vision care as a key component--are necessary to help children with visual impairments meet their educational, vocational, and avocational needs. With ongoing low-vision services, unnecessary costs such as those associated with large-print materials can be reduced, thereby creating significant savings to local, state, and federal special educational services.