Functional Vision Assessment

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Functional Vision Assessment

• With Very Young Children
• Tanni L. Anthony, Ph.D.
• NTAC Meeting - Tampa, FL
• April 27, 2004

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FUNCTIONAL VISION ASSESSMENT

• Assessing what HELPS visual performance
• Assessing what HINDERS visual performance

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1.1.5.T1
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Philosophy of Assessment

• Parent input and participation are essential, as
  it a team approach.
• It takes time to complete a FVA.
• The FVA should reflect real life learning and
  activities.
• It is key to determine the childs learning
  style.
• Qualitative and quantitative skills should be
  noted in a FVA.

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FACT FINDING

• Medical Information
• Developmental Information

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The Visual Response Continuum

• Awareness ????Attention???Understanding
• Lights ?????? People ???? Objects
• Fixation????????????? Tracking
• Near??????????????? Far
• Peripheral ????????????Central
• Familiar ????????????? Unfamiliar
• Parts ?????????????? Wholes
• Simple ????????????? Complex
• Large ????????????? Small

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Pieces of the FVA Puzzle
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Emotional Safety / Rapport

• The infants first tasks are attachment and
  sensory regulation. These are the building
  blocks to effective and efficient visual skill
  development.
• Stress will negatively impact visual performance.

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Familiar vs. Unfamiliar

• Authentic Assessment in the early years
• completing assessments in settings familiar to
  the child
• with people who are familiar to the child.
• with objects that are familiar to the child.

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Environmental Control

• Pay attention to
• Focal Distance / Size / Angle
• Lighting
• Auditory Distractions
• Visual Clutter
• Contrast / Color

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Positioning

• Ensure the child is in a supported posture.
• Hips support trunk support head support.
• Focus should be on looking and not maintaining
  balance.

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Vision is not the Only Learning Sense

• FVA should not be completed in isolation of other
  sensory assessment.
• Utilize other tools and other professionals to
  build a true perspective of childs individual
  sensory learning profile.

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Sensory Targets

• Be aware of the sensory hierarchy.
• Look for preferences.

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Sequence of Sensory Development
Touch Vestibular Taste
Smell Auditory
Vision
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Wait Time

• Be patient it may take some infants a very
  long time to initially respond to sensory stimuli.

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FVA Components First Glance

• Appearance of Eyes
• Presence of Nystagmus
• Corrective Lenses

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FVA ComponentsVisual Reflexes

• Pupillary Response
• Defensive Blink
• Dolls Eye Response

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Reception and Perception of Visual Stimuli

• Light Perception
• Light Projection
• Shadow and Form Perception
• Hand Motion

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COLOR VISION

• Genetic Predisposition
• Eye Condition
• Simple Preferences

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MUSCLE IMBALANCE

• Eso
• Exo
• Hyper
• Hypo

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Eye Preference

• Anisometropia
• Nystagmus Equity
• Monocular Items

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OCULAR MOTOR BEHAVIORS

• FIXATION
• CONVERGENCE
• DIVERGENCE
• TRACING

• TRACKING
• SHIFT OF GAZE
• SCANNING

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Eye Teaming Continued

• Depth Perception
• Figure- Ground
• Perception

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Field of Vision

• Hemanopsia
• Scotoma
• Tunnel Vision

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• Light Sensitivity
• Light-Dark Adaptation
• Contrast Sensitivity

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VISUAL ACUITY

• Preferred Viewing Distance
• Near and Distance
• Force Preferential Looking
• Functional Acuity

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Reading Rate Comprehension

• Classroom materials
• Reading Efficiency Kit materials.
• Community materials.

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Visual Motor Coordination

• Gross Motor Tasks
• Fine Motor Tasks
• Handwriting Skills

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VISUAL COGNITIVE SKILLS

• Imitation
• Identification
• Matching, Sorting, Classifying
• Sequencing

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VISUAL PERCEPTION SKILLS

• Visual Closure
• Part-Whole
• Pattern Recognition
• Figure-Ground Discrimination
• Spatial Orientation

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• The
• end