Children's Vision Team

We use this specialist guidance which gives us information about what your child should be learning both in and out of school. We use it to make targets for your child and it helps to prepare your child for adulthood.

Learning to live with a visual impairment isn’t just about doing schoolwork. A visual impairment does not go away and is there 24/7, 365 days a year. This means your child may need to learn special skills so they can get ready for school, make a meal or snack, pour themselves a drink and travel to meet their friends.

Our service has a full time Habilitation Officer who supports in the following ways…

• ILS
• Mobility and orientation
• Independent travel
• Environmental audit
• Cane skills
• Sighted Guide
• Transition

Your child may need to use some equipment or devices both in and out of school. Your child’s Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment (QTVI) will look at this during their visits. They will give information to the nursery, school and college about what would work well and support your child’s access to their schoolwork.

If your child continues to have difficulties, your QTVI will ask the service VI Technician to complete an assistive technology assessment and give school further information about how they can support your child. 

We work closely with the Health Visitors and may come along on their visits to see you.

When working with your preschool child, we can support you in different ways;

• Talking to you about your child’s eye condition and answer any questions you have.
• Assess your child’s vision by watching them play and move around either your home or their nursery.
• Assess your child’s vision further, working with them on a one-to-one basis by using lights, toys and objects that attract their attention.
• You may be invited to Bright Lights preschool group
• One of our team might visit your child home or at their nursery. They could visit on a regular basis over 6 weeks or longer if needed.
• We use a range of specialist guidance, to show how your child's vision is developing. 
• When we learn more about your child and their vision, we take all of that information and write it in a document called a ‘Preschool Profile’. This is shared with you and your child’s nursery.
• We use the NatSIP Eligibility Framework* to helps us decide how often we visit your child.
• What support your child receives is also in the Descriptors of Need for visual impairment* 
• When your child moves to Reception class, we will give advice and support to their new teachers. 

When your child makes the big jump to primary school, we continue to support in the following ways…

• We will contact the new school before your child starts, letting them know who we are and why we are involved.
• Before your child starts school our Habilitation Specialist may work with them to learn about what the school looks like. They will walk around the new school with your child so they can feel more confident knowing where their classroom or where the dinner hall is.
• The Habilitation Specialist can offer advice to school/setting staff on how to make the school vision friendly.
• A Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment (QTVI) will visit the new school and your child early in the school year to do a functional vision assessment. They may also speak to your child’s teacher to make sure there are not any issues and answer any questions they may have.
• A QTVI may visit your child to observe your child using their vision during the school day.
• Create and share your child's individual Pupil Profile. A document which has information about how your child uses their vision and advice on how their school can support them.
• We give school information about how they access their National Curriculum Standard Assessment Tests (SATs).
• Attend meetings about your child when asked yourself or the school.
• We talk to your child to hear how they are managing in school, we talk to them about  their VI and the difficulties they may have.

When your child makes the move to secondary school, where they will have more than a few teachers, we continue to support in the following ways… 

• We will contact the new school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) before your child starts, letting them know who we are and why we are involved. 
• If necessary, before your child starts school, our Habilitation Specialist may work with them so they can learn about what the school looks like. They will walk around the new school with your child so they will feel more confident knowing where their classrooms may be, or the dinner hall is. 
• The Habilitation Specialist or Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment (QTVI) can offer advice to school/setting staff on how to make the school vision friendly. 
• A QTVI will visit the new school and your child early in the school year to do a functional vision assessment. They will also speak to the school SENCO to make sure there are not any issues and answer any questions they may have from your child’s teachers. 
• A QTVI may visit your child to observe them using their vision in lessons. 
• The QTVI sends the school a Pupil Profile* (you will get a copy too) which gives lots of information so school can support your child. 
• We can support your child when they are deciding what GCSE, A Level subjects or other qualification options they want to take. 
• We give school information about how they can access their exams. 
• Attend meetings about your child when asked yourself or the school.
• We talk to your child to hear how they are managing in school, we talk to them about  their VI and the difficulties they may have.

We continue to support your child when they move on from their GCSEs, whether they stay at school or move to a college or other setting...

• We will contact the new setting’s coordinator before your child starts, letting them know who we are and why we are involved.
• If necessary, before your child starts at the setting, our Habilitation Specialist may work with them so they can learn about what the environment is like and find classrooms or workshops.
• The Habilitation Specialist or Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment (QTVI) can offer advice and training to the setting staff on how to make the setting vision friendly.
• A QTVI will visit the new setting and your child early in the academic year to complete a functional vision assessment. They will also speak to the setting coordinator to make sure there are not any issues and answer any questions they may have.
• The QTVI sends the setting a Post 16 Pupil Profile (you will get a copy too) which gives lots of information so the setting can support your child.
• We can support your child when they are deciding what they might want to do after college or school, including sharing with them some useful information about any transition to adult services, including the eye hospital or rehabilitation.
• We give the setting information about how they can access any exams or assessments. 
• Attend meetings about your child when asked by yourself or the by the setting.
• We talk to your child to hear how they are managing in school, we talk to them about  their VI and the difficulties they may have.

Access – being able to do something, like a tasks or activities.

Assistive Technology – equipment or services that a child uses for tasks they find difficult to do on and to be able to be as independent as possible. 

Certificate of Visual Impairment – this certificate is given by an ophthalmologist at the hospital who will decide if your child can be registered as Sight Impaired (SI) or Severely Sight Impaired (SSI). You do not have to have your child registered if you do not wish to – it is voluntary. Once the certificate has been shared with the council, the Habilitation Specialist and a QTVI* will arrange a visit to talk to you about any services and benefits available to your child.

CFVI (Curriculum Framework for children and young people with a Vision Impairment) specialist guidance used by adults working with your child.

CVI (cerebral vision impairment) A CVI is a visual impairment due to the visual parts of the brain not working correctly and not due to an eye problem. 

Descriptors of Need for visual impairment – guidance used by schools, written by us describing what support should be in place for your child and who should provide it. The different ranges outline the support that needs to be provided by the schools and local authority services. 

EHCP – a legal document which details the support your child’s needs.

Independent Living Skills (ILS) – skills needed for everyday life, including food preparation, finances, shopping, getting ready and keeping safe.

NatSIP Eligibility Framework – questions and scoring system used by a QTVI to help them to decide how often to see your child. We can see your child weekly, half termly, termly, annually and biannually. This system is used across many services in England. 

Functional vision assessment – an assessment carried out by a QTVI to understand how your child uses their vision every day. 

Log Mar – a specialist scale used to describe the level of your child’s vision e.g., 0.0 is full vision moving to 1.0 which describes severely reduced vision.

Modified Large Print resources – learning resources e.g., worksheets and books, which have been changed so children can access them.

QTVI (Qualified Teacher of Vision Impairment) – a teacher who has completed further training at degree level to be able to work with your child.

Ophthalmologist – an eye doctor who will see your child in the eye department

Pupil Profile – a QTVI will send you and your child’s school this document. It has information about how your child uses their vision and advice on how their school can support them. There are 3 types of profiles; Preschool, Pupil and Post 14 profile and which one you receive depends on your child’s age.

Reasonable adjustments – changes made to how your child accesses their schoolwork, such as assistive technology.

SENDCo/SENCo - members of teaching staff who are responsible for special educational needs within a school.

Transition – There are two types of transition, the one when your child moves each year and then when they move from one setting to another – e.g., from primary to secondary school or secondary school to college.

Visual impairment (VI) – when your child’s vision can not be corrected to ‘full/near full’ vision by glasses from the optician, contact lenses, medication, or surgery.

Visual acuity - how clearly your child can see detail at both near and distance.