MEDICAL PROFESSIONALSBy 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. OcularistAn 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.
OphthalmologistAn 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.
OpticianAn 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.
OptometristThe 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 OptometristsDevelopmental 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).
OrthopistOrthopists 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-ophthalmologistsNeuro-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 SpecialistRetinal 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
$50.00
Written specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), this book 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. The core activities listed in the Activity section can be adapted to each thematic unit. These include:
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. Unique Concepts within the Units include:
Although the intended audience of this resource is fellow Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, special education teachers may find these activities beneficial to the students in their classrooms as the activities are multisensory and include life skills and concepts needed by all students. This resource, however, is not intended to take the place of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI). Readers are advised to consult their own TVI’s regarding instruction in the ECC and the unique visual needs of the student’s served in their programs. Note: This curriculum is a digital pdf download. Once you make your purchase you will be directed to an order confirmation page where you will find the download link. This download will also be included on the receipt sent to the email address you provide. The pdf download can be found directly under the order number. Each download is intended for single instructor use per copyright. Thank you for helping me preserve the content and not distributing copies to third parties. Product details Digital pdf download: 364 pages (11 pt font) Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments Author: Carmen Willings Language: English 
Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency Grab & Go ECC Supplements
$20.00
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 supplement 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. Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details: Digital pdf download: 210 pages Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments Author: Carmen Willings Language: English |
