Assessment and rehabilitation of children with special needs

Evaluating the visual functioning of children with multiple impairments has long been a source of frustration for many eye care practitioners. A reflection of this difficulty is seen in the number of persons with multiple handicaps, especially children who are labeled "untestable" or "blind" by eye care specialists, but whose parents, teachers, and other caregivers know have some residual vision. These children with special needs may not be responsive to standard testing procedures for a variety of reasons. Stress-related behaviors, orthopedic and neuromuscular disorders, mental retardation, and preverbal levels of development will often greatly interfere with communication and co-operation levels. As parents, educators, and rehabilitation professionals have become aware of the importance of vision in the development of any child, the demand for comprehensive functional vision evaluations has substantially increased. The purpose of this paper is to present a functional vision evaluation for a child with special needs. Although one case is given as an example, guidelines for the evaluation of all special needs children are presented. It is important for eye care specialists to utilize these examination procedures in order to provide a framework from which comprehensive vision services can be delivered in conjunction with available community resources.