Common refractive errors
Hypermetropia (longsightedness) is difficulty focusing at short (near) distance. The vision is then blurred. Young children with severe long-sightedness are more likely to develop other eye problems such as a squint. Glasses can help with hypermetropia.
Myopia (short-sightedness) is difficulty in focusing at distance. Young children with untreated short-sightedness are more likely to get other conditions, such as a squint or lazy eye. Glasses can help with myopia.
People with refractive errors often find it difficult to quickly change focus from near to distance (and vice versa), such as when copying from the board.
Education strategies that can help
- Encourage glasses or contact lenses to be worn.
- Worksheets that are free of visual clutter and reading materials with a good contrast, possibly enlarged or modified.
- All worksheets to presented on paper no larger than A4. A3 is to large to scan across and can affect posture.
- Extra time to for visual tasks.
- Avoid standing in front of windows – this can reduce a person to a silhouette and make it difficult for all learners to see you properly.
- Learners who have VI need to sit in the best position to see the whiteboard but not separately from the other learners.
- Learners with vision impairment need to sit close to a power source if they are using specialist ICT.
- Provide individual copies of anything presented on the whiteboard.
- Use a clearly contrasting pen, for example, black on white.
- Use real objects and artefacts to support teaching.
- Learners to have their own whiteboard and pen and also their own copy of resources e.g. phonics flashcards.
- Consideration for PE activities as fast moving team games may be difficult.
- PE equipment should be clean and create a good contrast with the surface, for example, no green bean bags on grass
- Classroom to have good ambient lighting.
- Windows to have blinds to reduce glare.
- Walkways to be clear.
- Ensure classroom storage does not create obstacles.
- Layout of the classroom to be kept consistent.
- Resources kept in the same place and clearly labelled.
- Plan and practise 1:1 procedure for fire alarms.