Functional Vision Assessment
Judy Bell
Independent Education Consultant Visual Impairment & Complex Needs
Some Questions
1. What is functional vision assessment (FVA)?
2. What is the difference between FVA & clinical
vision assessment?
3. Who can undertake FVA?
4. Who can be usefully assessed?
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
2
Processes involved in FVA
• Collection of background information
• Observations of a child’s visual behaviour
in particular settings
• Structured intervention to manipulate the
setting, circumstances or variables
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
3
What are the variables?
The Child
The Environment
The Stimulus
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
4
Child variables
• Health
• Comfort
• Hunger
• Tiredness
• Nature of VI – ocular, cerebral or combination
• Use of glasses or lenses
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
5
Environmental variables
• Time
• Place
• Competing stimuli
• Lighting
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
6
Stimulus variables
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Luminescence: light producing, reflecting, floresence
Distance: from eyes
Size & shape: diameter in cms, regularity
Direction & angle: left, right, central, up, down
Colour: strong, pastel, florescent
Pattern: concentric, grid, stripes, representational
Contrast: background, internal: high, low: colour or b&w
Movement: speed, direction, starting/finishing, nature
Nature: familiarity, association, object, picture, photo
Sound: alerting, constant, intermittent, type
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
7
Functional vision skills 1
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Light perception
Visual awareness of stimulus
Contrast sensitivity
Fixation/attention/visual interest/gaze
Eye movements: location, saccades, tracking
Visual fields & peripheral vision
Colour vision
Tolerance of light
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
8
Functional vision skills 2
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Directed reach
Visually directed movement
Joint attention
Visual recognition
• Speed of visual response
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
9
Features of a good FVA report 1
1.
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Name, address & d.o.b. of child
Date(s) & time(s) of assessment
How & from whom information gathered
Description of environment(s) in which
assessment(s) undertaken
5. Demeanour of child during the
assessment
6. Description of a.)child’s responses to
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
10
Features of a good FVA report 2
6. Description of:
a.) child’s responses to
b.) specific stimuli
7. Interpretation of observations
8. Recommendations
9. Name, signature & designation of
assessor/report compiler
10. Date of report!
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
11
Some FVA Frameworks
• Cortical Visual Impairment:
An Approach to Assessment and Intervention
Author: Christine Roman-Lantzy
Price: $49.95
Format: Paperback (also available in: ASCII on CDROM)
ISBN: 978-0-89128-829-9
Publisher: AFB Press
Year of publication: 2007
• This is VERY detailed &, in its purest form,
requires a lot of assessment and recording time. It is a
framework for functional assessment and intervention,
and is not standardized.
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
12
Some FVA Frameworks - cont’d
• Vision for Doing: Assessing functional vision of learners
who are multiply disabled
Authors: Stuart Aitken & Marianna Buultjens
Moray House Publications, Edinburgh 1992
ISBN 0901580392
Downloadable from:
www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/resources/vi&multi/visionbook.pdf
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
13
•
Assessing functional vision
Children with complex needs
This booklet explores the different factors that affect what a child sees, such
as the size, colour and position of an object, backgrounds, lighting condition
and how much time a child is given to make sense of what is presented.
The assessment activities have proved useful for assessing children with a
wide variety of abilities, needs and interest and are designed to enable you
to establish a baseline of visual functioning.
Author: Catherine Southwell
Publisher: RNIB
Publication Date: 2003
ED406: Clear Print (Paperback)
56 Pages
ISBN: 1858785987
Price: £12.50 (Inc. VAT)
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
14
Some FVA Frameworks - cont’d
• Functional Vision Profile
Judy Bell – CDRom in process
A means of creating a functional vision ‘passport’
through provision of a set of descriptors which
have to be personalised by the assessor.
Descriptors can be deleted, expanded or new
ones can be added. The descriptors act as
pointers to the skills and variables that need to
be considered.
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
15
Some FVA Tools
• Materials produced by Lea Hyvarinen
www.lea-test.fi
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
16
Finally - Some words of warning!
1. A FVA can only be considered as a snapshot of
a child’s visual functioning at a given point in
time, under a given set of circumstances
2. The purpose for which a FVA is required & the
needs of the child should inform the nature of
the assessment. One size does not
necessarily fit all!
3. Good FVA supports informs successful
intervention – it is not an intervention in itself.
Judy Bell - Independent education
consultant: VI & CN
17