[blindkid] Functional Vision Assessment in preschooler -- what should be included -- can anyone PLEASE help?

amydarlington at comcast.net amydarlington at comcast.net
Sat Jan 8 15:47:35 UTC 2011


Oh, yes, we'll certainly be contacting our TVI. She's available once per week for questions, and we can't reach her until next Wednesday. I'm asking the questions here to get an idea of what is reasonable to expect from a FVA. In most professions there are best practices, or standards, of what should be included. 

Amy 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "janis parker" <goatmom2003 at yahoo.com> 
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org> 
Sent: Saturday, January 8, 2011 9:27:18 AM 
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Functional Vision Assessment in preschooler -- what should be included -- can anyone PLEASE help? 

Amy- Why not call TVI and ask the questions yourself? Most TVI are allowed home 
visits, so you can see and understand how the assessments were done and how they 
relate to your child. Even if a home visit is not possible, phone conferences 
can be very helpful, also. Just ask! 



________________________________ 
From: "amydarlington at comcast.net" <amydarlington at comcast.net> 
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org 
Sent: Sat, January 8, 2011 8:13:44 AM 
Subject: [blindkid] Functional Vision Assessment in preschooler -- what should 
be included -- can anyone PLEASE help? 




Hi, 





Can anyone share what instruments are typically used in a functional vision 
assessment at the preschool level for a child with low vision, and what 
information is typically included in the report? 






Our 3 year old (oculocutanous albinism and a left field delay/deficit, 
nystagmus, photophobia) just started preschool this fall, and in November had a 
functional vision assessment done by the TVI. We just received the written 
report. It is very general and appears to be mostly a form letter with a few 
paragraphs of individualized information. While it lists the LEA symbols and 
Pavi book it doesn't state how the instruments were used to assess her 
functional vision or what the specific results were. Our daughter's report 
doesn't say how our daughter was assessed or what the specific results were. For 
example, "my assessment yielded similar results" was used a couple of times 
following a sentence about what the opthalmologist or low vision doctor said in 
a previous report. The teacher was not aware when the TVI came in to do the 
assessment unfortunately (she may have been out that day), so we just don't have 
much info about what was done. 






I guess my questions are: 

• Is it unreasonable to have the functional vision assessment include how 
the instruments were used and the specific results? (Such as she was able to 
recognize LEA symbols at 2 feet but not at 5 feet, etc.) 



• 
Are there any best practices out there for what should be included in a FVA at 
this level, for a low vision preschooler? Shouldn't it include some kind of 
objective testing for near, far, and mid-range vision, field of vision, and also 
cite observations about her in different lighting conditions ? And maybe do 
specific tests to address her field deficit in classroom? 



• 
Shouldn't the FVA state how the child is functioning *in her specific classroom 
setting* -- I thought we were going to have more information and specific 
observations from the TVI about what she sees our child doing/not doing. 


• 
How often should these be done? Our daughter had a FVA 3-4 months prior from 
earlier TVI, so I really thought having a new FVA was to address specifically 
her academic needs in a preschool environment. 



• 
We are familiar with the LEA symbols but can anyone share what the Pavi book is? 
I did a quick search online and all I came up with was the Parents and Visually 
Impaired Infants materials written by D. Chen in 1989. The short description 
given seems to describe materials for parents as home based intervention on 
infants and toddlers. 


• 
Are there any best practices out there for what should be included in a 
functional vision assessment at this level, for a low vision preschooler? 





On the plus side the suggested modifications at the end are helpful (most are 
already in our IEP, although there is a good recommendation added for a tray 
table). I just don't think the report is enough for a FVA, and we were hoping to 
have this info to use in revising our daughter's IEP. 





Thank you so much to anyone who is able to either share what was done in their 
FVA or (fingers crossed) there might be TVIs out there who can enlighten us on 
what to expect from a FVA. 






Amy 










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