Medical Professionals

By Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Many factors including whether the doctor is "in network" with your medical insurance, the doctor's qualifications, recommendations from family and friends, geographic location and the doctor's "bedside manner" will play a role in who you may choose for you or your child's vision care. Some areas and expertise in the medical field overlap slightly but there are some great differences between specialists. The following are some of the medical professionals who may provide services to a person with a visual impairment.

Ocularist

An ocularist is specialized in the fabrication and fitting of ocular prostheses for people who have lost eyes due to trauma, illness, or were born without eyes. The process for creating a custom made eye typically includes taking an impression of the eye socket, shaping a plastic shell, painting the iris and then fitting the prostheses. The ocularist will help the patient or caregiver how to care for and handle the prosthesis.

Ophthalmologist

An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor (M.D.) who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of all visual impairments and eye diseases, performs surgery, and prescribes other types of treatment, including eyeglasses, other optical devices, or medication, when necessary. In addition to performing comprehensive eye examinations and measuring refractive errors (i.e., irregularities in the size or shape of the eyeball or surface of the cornea) they ophthalmologist can make the initial determination as to whether the student has a visual impairment. If the student needs medical attention because of the eye condition, it is best for him to be under the care of an ophthalmologist.

Optician

An optician is a specialized health care practitioner who designs, fits and dispenses lenses for the correction of a person's vision. These include ophthalmic lenses, spectacles, contact lenses, low vision aids and ocular prosthetics. The prescription for the corrective lenses must be supplied by an ophthalmologist, optometrist.

Optometrist

The optometrist is a "doctor of optometry" (O.D.) holds an advanced degree in optometry and who diagnosis, manages, and treats conditions and diseases of the human eye and visual system as regulated by state law (not a medical doctor). The optometrist measures refractive errors, prescribes and fits eyeglasses and contact lenses, and may also provide vision training.

Developmental Optometrists

Developmental Optometrists will exam the physical condition and health of the eye. They conduct additional tests to the routine eye exam to determine if the student has developed visual skills they need to adequately perform tasks required in their daily lives, particularly at work or school. They evaluate binocularity (how the eyes interact with each other and transmit information to the brain), oculomotility (tracking), accommodation (focusing), visual perception, and visual motor integration (eye-hand coordination). If the student is having problems in these areas, the Developmental Optometrist will recommend special lenses and/or vision therapy. (See Eligibility and the Vision Therapy Controversy).

Orthopist

Orthopists are eye care specialists who work with ophthalmologists to evaluate and treat eye disorders involving eye movement and eye alignment. They primarily work with school age patients who have muscle alignment difficulties, double vision, and Amblyopia. They typically develop treatment plans utilizing eye exercises, eye patches, eye drops or special glasses.

Neuro-ophthalmologists

Neuro-opthalmology is the sub-specialty of both neurology and ophthalmology concerning visual problems that are related to the nervous system. A neuro-ophthalmologist is a physician specializing in diseases affecting vision that originate from the nervous system. (North American Neuro-Ophthalmolgy Society)

Retinal Specialist

Retinal specialists are specialized eye doctors who treat only diseases of the retina. The retinal specialist is most often called upon when vision can no longer be improved after appropriate glasses have been prescribed and/or cataract surgery to determine the cause of the persistent decreased vision, or if there is any abnormality noted in the back of the eye on routine eye exams. (Sarasota Retina Institute, 2011, Melvin Chen MD)

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TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level. In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community-based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.


In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist


For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.


TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details
·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements
The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.  


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Product Page.


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement
The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement
The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. 


Additional Use:
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


BONUS!
Lotto Cards
The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.


On My Way File Folder Cards
Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

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