• Users Online: 51816
  • Home
  • Print this page
  • Email this page
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2018  |  Volume : 66  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 285-289

Are children with low vision adapted to the visual environment in classrooms of mainstream schools?


1 Department of Preventive Ophthalmology, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai; Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA) University, Thanjavur; Elite School of Optometry, Chennai, India
2 Elite School of Optometry, Chennai, India
3 Department of Preventive Ophthalmology, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Rachapalle Reddi Sudhir
Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, No. 18, College Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai - 6000 06, Tamil Nadu
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_772_17

Rights and Permissions

Purpose: The study aimed to evaluate the classroom environment of children with low vision and provide recommendations to reduce visual stress, with focus on mainstream schooling. Methods: The medical records of 110 children (5–17 years) seen in low vision clinic during 1 year period (2015) at a tertiary care center in south India were extracted. The visual function levels of children were compared to the details of their classroom environment. The study evaluated and recommended the chalkboard visual task size and viewing distance required for children with mild, moderate, and severe visual impairment (VI). Results: The major causes of low vision based on the site of abnormality and etiology were retinal (80%) and hereditary (67%) conditions, respectively, in children with mild (n = 18), moderate (n = 72), and severe (n = 20) VI. Many of the children (72%) had difficulty in viewing chalkboard and common strategies used for better visibility included copying from friends (47%) and going closer to chalkboard (42%). To view the chalkboard with reduced visual stress, a child with mild VI can be seated at a maximum distance of 4.3 m from the chalkboard, with the minimum size of visual task (height of lowercase letter writing on chalkboard) recommended to be 3 cm. For 3/60–6/60 range, the maximum viewing distance with the visual task size of 4 cm is recommended to be 85 cm to 1.7 m. Conclusion: Simple modifications of the visual task size and seating arrangements can aid children with low vision with better visibility of chalkboard and reduced visual stress to manage in mainstream schools.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed2551    
    Printed39    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded295    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 2    

Recommend this journal