Visual Impairments Services

When students have trouble learning at school, one of the first things to check is their vision.

Students with vision problems may have these symptoms:

• headaches when reading;
• reddened or misaligned eyes;
• unusual eye movements;
• the tendency to turn their heads at odd angles to look at things.

However, a student may show none of these symptoms and still have vision problems.

Some of these problems cannot be corrected with eyeglasses or surgery.

How students are referred for vision services

If parents have concerns about their child's vision, they should consult an eye doctor and also discuss with the child's teacher.

The student may be referred to the School Based Team, which focuses on strategies to meet the student's needs at school.

The team includes the student's teachers, a school administrator, a learning assistance teacher and a school counsellor. It can also include the parents, the student (where appropriate), consultants from the Department of Education and representatives from other community services.

The team may refer the student to the teacher for students with visual impairments.

This teacher will try to find out if the vision problem is interfering with the child's learning. This is called a functional vision assessment.

Assessment

A functional vision assessment usually consists of:

• medical information from the student's family and doctors;
• interviews with teachers, parents and the student;
• observations of the student doing a variety of tasks; and
• assessments of appearance of the eyes, muscle balance, scanning abilities, depth perception and colour perception, among other things.

Services for students with vision problems

The teacher for the vision impaired also:

• recommends that students with vision problems are provided with appropriate equipment for learning;
• teaches students the use of equipment and methods - for example: computers, magnifiers, talking calculators and Braille;
• refers students with advanced problems to ophthalmologists or to other agencies; and
• provides professional development for teachers in the areas of vision.

For more information:

Special Programs Division
Department of Education
Phone: (867) 667-8000
Toll Free: 1-800-661-0408
shirley.loo@gov.yk.ca

Special Programs
Department of Education
Government of Yukon
Box 2703
Whitehorse, Yukon
Canada Y1A 2C6

Phone: (867) 667-8000
Toll free (In Yukon):
1-800-661-0408, local 8000
Fax: (867) 393-6423

shirley.loo@gov.yk.ca