Visual impairment including blindness
Last updated
Under IDEA, visual impairment including blindness is a vision loss that, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational performance.
Topic: Disability categories and conditions
In plain terms
The category covers both partial sight and blindness. Many students with visual impairments have some usable vision and use large print, magnification or low vision devices; others read braille, and some use both. Eligibility depends on how vision affects learning, not only on an eye report, which is why functional vision and learning media assessments matter.
How it shows up in an IEP
The team must provide braille instruction unless it decides, after evaluation, that braille is not appropriate. IEPs often include a teacher of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility services, plus goals from the expanded core curriculum.
Example
A fourth grader with low vision reads enlarged print slowly. After a learning media assessment, the team adds braille instruction and a goal for reading contracted braille words.
The rule
Federal reference: 34 CFR §300.8(c)(13), 34 CFR §300.324(a)(2)(iii).
Related terms
- Low visionLow vision is vision loss that cannot be fully corrected with glasses, contacts, medicine or surgery and affects daily tasks.
- BrailleBraille is a tactile system of reading and writing in which letters, numbers and symbols are formed by patterns of raised dots in cells of six.
- TVI (teacher of students with visual impairments)A TVI is a certified special education teacher who specializes in teaching students who are blind or have low vision.
- Learning media assessmentA learning media assessment is an evaluation that helps the team decide whether a student with a visual impairment should learn through print, braille or both.
- Expanded core curriculumThe expanded core curriculum is nine skill areas, beyond academics, that students who are blind or visually impaired need to learn directly.
- Orientation and mobilityOrientation and mobility is instruction that teaches students who are blind or visually impaired to travel safely and independently.
On IEP Atlas
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