Visual Performance in the Low Vision Child

Chris Rubie, AssocDipOrth (Cumb), DOBA

The visual performance of pre-school children who have been assessed in the Child and Adolescent Services Department of the Royal Blind Society of N.S.W. is discussed.
The developing low vision child often establishes strategies around his visual impairment to compensate for his visual loss. The importance of clinical observation, and of spending time with these children, indoors and outdoors, is discussed. In addition to this, emphasis is placed on obtaining information from the parents, who can provide details concerning the child’s visual performance in the home and a history of any deterioration of improvement in his vision.