I saw this picture today on fb and it really hit home! I have always thought a majority of my kids have undiagnosed vision issues that no one ever does anything about. I have expressed concern to parents and they think everything is fine because the doctors haven't said anything or because they pass the vision screening Half of my kids cannot even understand how to do the screening test and none of them would be able to express if they couldn't see correctly. How many of us have gotten new glasses or contacts and thought "WOW! I didn't know what I was missing!". I can only imagine how clueless my little ones with special needs are especially if it's a condition they've had their whole lives.
Do other teachers have this issue? How do you address these concerns with parents who think everything is fine? Do you think vision issues are more prevalent in kids with special needs, particularly Autism?
Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts!
4 comments:
I am certainly going to have James' eyes checked before he goes back to school! Thanks for posting this!!
That's really interesting, Allison. I am often frustrated by vision problems in my classroom - even when they're so-called "corrected." Many of my students are severely cognitively impaired...non-readers...non-verbal...so how the heck did the eye doctor come up with that prescription? Also, with kids with special needs, especially cognitive impairments, it is often difficult to determine which is a physical vision problem and which is a neurological processing problem.
Kara
Spedventures
Sarah, I'm glad you found this helpful! I am curious to know how a doctor goes about diagnosing these conditions when a screening isn't enough. Good luck to you and James on his appt!
Kara, I agree that it is hard to tell the difference between a vision issue and a cognitive issue. I feel on SpEd we are constantly trying to decifer the main cause of issues we see (is it behavior or is it sensory? Is it a language impairment or auditory processing concern?).
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