• occurs when an eye condition affects the visual system and its vision functions

• unusual turning of the head, body, or eye

• watery eyes

• eye fatigue

• frequent headaches or eye pain

• squinting or shading eye to see things

• difficulty keeping up with reading a writing(including copy notes from a board or other readings)

• poor sensory perceptual coordination (sensory and motor skills)

• failure to make eye contact

• confusion reading and writing

• refractive errors (when the shape of the eye prevents light from focusing on the retina)

• cataract (clouding of eyes)

• diabetic retinopathy (diabetes that damages the retina)

• glaucoma

• age-related macular degeneration

• injury to eyes

• congenital blindness (which means they are visually impaired at birth)

• infection of the eyes

At Risk for Visual Impairments: Cerebral palsy, Congenital Cataracts, maternal infections, premature or low birth weight, Strabismus

Support in the class

• Make seating changes, when needed, to help kids see you or learning materials.

• Keep walkways open. Make sure your classroom is easy to move through and free of obstacles.

• Give extra time, if needed.

• Know about assistive devices, technology, or other learning aids. Kids may use magnifiers for reading or read from large-printed books and handouts. Audiobooks are a good idea. For kids who can’t type, voice-activated computers help them do classwork. 

• Allow verbal responses for assignments or tests to measure learning.

• Talk about and celebrate differences. Students with visual impairments want to be accepted like everyone else.

She took me to the Ophthalmologist and I was prescribes with my first pair of glasses at 2. As I got older from around the time when I first started kindergarten or first grade, my eye doctor suggesting patching on my eye with good vision to help the eye with bad vision get stronger and be put to use. I wore the patch for about 2-3 years and ever since then I have been wearing glasses even since. Luckily my impairment isn't as bad and doesn't affect much of my day to day life.