Education services: delivery models and applications

Business

Early Childhood Education

One aspect of early childhood education the author discusses in the text is the issue of visual impairment. Today, it seems more children than ever wear glasses, and many can suffer from very serious visual impairments, such as blindness, or lack of vision in one eye. Understanding their needs in the classroom is extremely important to support their learning experience. There may be a need for occupational therapy to help improve the vision, and there may be children whose vision needs have not been assessed.

In addition, the teacher must be aware of any behaviors the child exhibits that might indicate the child has a vision problem that has not been diagnosed. These could include squinting at the blackboard or reading materials, holding a book too close or too far away when reading, sitting extremely close to a computer screen, or being unable to read items posted on the walls or on the blackboard from a short distance. If a child without glasses or contacts exhibits any of these behaviors, a professional pediatric optometrist should assess their vision. Children should be screened by the age of three, but many are not, so the teacher must be aware of any indicators and act on them.

Seating of children with visual impairments can be crucial to their learning experience. Seating them too far away from visual cues such as a blackboard can be harmful to their understanding and experience, while seating them too close can also be detrimental. Each child's vision requirements are unique, and the teacher should assess each child separately to obtain the best results.

If a child is blind or nearly blind, there are other issues for the educator to watch for. Today, visually impaired children are educated alongside sighted children. This helps both groups understand disabilities and deal with them. Blind children use their remaining senses to navigate their surroundings and interact with others. Some may even rely on seeing-eye dogs that come into the classroom. This can help bond the blind child with the other children, and help them understand disability and rehabilitation. Blind children may also use adaptive devices, such as optical readers, or they may learn Braille. The teacher should explain how these devices work to the other children so they understand how they aid the blind child in the learning process.

Many states offer vision services to help screen children for vision problems at a young age. In addition, there are many Websites with resources for the teacher and blind student. Some of the best include:

American Federation for the Blind:

http://www.afb.org/braillebug/

What Families Need to Know:

http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=8

Early Childhood Services:

http://www.visionconnection.org/Content/VisionRehabilitation/VisionRehabilitationServices/AnAge-by-AgeGuide/EarlyChildhoodServices.htm?cookie%5Ftest=1