Preschool Vision Stimulation

When children and adults apply for disability benefits and claim that a visual impairment has limited their ability to function, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to determine their eligibility. To ensure that these determinations are made fairly and consistently, SSA has developed criteria for eligibility and a process for assessing each claimant against the criteria. Visual Impairments: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits examines SSA's methods of determining disability for people with visual impairments, recommends changes that could be made now to improve the process and the outcomes, and identifies research needed to develop improved methods for the future. The report assesses tests of visual function, including visual acuity and visual fields whether visual impairments could be measured directly through visual task performance or other means of assessing disability. These other means include job analysis databases, which include information on the importance of vision to job tasks or skills, and measures of health-related quality of life, which take a person-centered approach to assessing visual function testing of infants and children, which differs in important ways from standard adult tests.

The Routledge Handbook of Visual Impairment examines current debates as well as cross-examining traditionally held beliefs around visual impairment. It provides a bridge between medical practice and social and cultural research drawing on authentic investigations. It is the intention of this Handbook to provide an opportunity to engage with academic researchers who wish to ensure a coherent and rigorous approach to research construction and reflection on visual impairment that is in collaboration with, but sometimes is beyond, the medical realm. This Handbook is divided into ten thematic areas in order to represent the wide range of debates and concepts within visual impairment. The ten themes include: cerebral visual impairment; education; sport and physical exercise; assistive technology; understanding the cultural aesthetics; socio-emotional and sexual aspects of visual impairment; orientation, mobility, habitation, and rehabilitation; recent advances in "eye" research and sensory substitution devices; ageing and adulthood. The 27 chapters that explore the social and cultural aspects of visual impairment can be taken and used in a variety of different ways in order to promote research and generate debate among practitioners and scholars who wish to use this resource to inform their practice in supporting and developing positive outcomes for all.

Foundations of Low Vision: Clinical and Functional Perspectives, the ground-breaking text that highlighted the importance of focusing on the functional as well as the clinical implications of low vision, has been completely updated and expanded in this second edition. The revised edition goes even further in its presentation of how best to assess and support both children and adults with low vision and plan programs and services that optimize their functional vision and ability to lead productive and satisfying lives, based on individuals' actual abilities. Part 1, Personal and Professional Perspectives, provides the foundations of this approach, with chapters focused on the anatomy of the eye, medical causes of visual impairment, optics and low vision devices, and clinical low vision services, as well as psychological and social implications of low vision and the history of the field. Part 2 focuses on children and youths, providing detailed treatment of functional vision assessment, instruction, use of low vision devices, orientation and mobility, and assistive technology. Part 3 presents rehabilitation and employment issues for working-age adults and special considerations for older adults.

This book describes the skills children with visual impairments need to get around safely and efficiently, and helps parents start their youngsters on the way to being independent. Chapters cover sensory training, concept development, motor development, and orientation skills, and offers suggestions on how to encourage a child to move, to identify the sources of sounds, to keep track of objects, and to play successfully with others.