Clinical and Cognitive Assessment of Children in Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad Education Programmes for the Visually Impaired
Supported by
Caribbean Council for the Blind
Sightsavers International
Hasan Minto
Petra Vanes
January 2007
(download the report in pdf format here)
ACRONYMS
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CBM |
Christoffel Blinden Mission |
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CT |
Contact teacher |
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CCB |
Caribbean Council for the Blind |
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CIT |
Contact itinerant teacher |
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ECSA |
East Central and Southern Africa |
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HRD |
Human resource development |
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ICD |
International classification of diseases |
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IE |
Inclusive education |
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IEP |
Individual education plan |
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IT |
Itinerant teacher |
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LV |
Low vision |
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LVDs |
Low vision devices |
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LVRC |
Low vision resource center |
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MLECP |
Mid level eye care personnel |
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MoE |
Ministry of Education |
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MoH |
Ministry of Health |
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M&E |
Monitoring and evaluation |
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NFP |
National focal person |
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RC |
Resource center |
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RE |
Refractive errors |
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SNE |
Special needs education |
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SSI |
Sightsavers International |
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VI |
Visual impairment |
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WHO |
World Health Organization |
Acknowledgement
Many people gave very generously and willingly of their time and knowledge during this regional exercise. We thank all those who have provided input into this report.
We would particularly like to thank all the teachers and children who participated in this exercise. We would also like to thank Ms. Sumrana Yasmin, Project Officer, Sightsavers International for her support in putting this report together and Dr. Aliya Qadir Khan for analyzing the data.
We feel very privileged to have been asked to visit Caribbean IEP. We’ve learned a great deal and hopefully provided useful material for the continuing progress of the programme.
BACKGROUND:
The Caribbean Council for the Blind (CCB) was established in 1967 as a regional not-for-profit organisation comprising of societies/associations of and for the blind throughout the mainly English-speaking Caribbean. However, CCB now includes associations from two Francophone countries, Haiti and Martinique. Initially, CCB operated out of Trinidad, but in 1980, the Secretariat or Administrative Office was relocated to Antigua. This new location, geographically, provided easier access to the territories of the Eastern Caribbean, Northern-Western Caribbean. CCB engages with Ministries of Education in: Antigua & Barbuda; Barbados, The Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines & Trinidad & Tobago.
Sightsavers International works through partnerships with Ministries of Education and Association of and for the blind persons to deliver the services. Sightsavers has been working with Caribbean Council for the Blind to support the education services for children with blindness or visual impairments in Caribbean for nearly 39 years. The Caribbean Council for the Blind and Sightsavers International believe that all children with visual impairment must be provided with comprehensive clinical examination and those who are LV should be assessed for LV. Spectacles and LV devices (both optical and non-optical in combination with necessary environmental modifications) should be provided to all who can potentially benefit from these. These interventions could have a significant impact on the quality of life and access to education.
The main objective of this assessment was to ascertain the visual status of the children in the programme and collate it with their educational needs. It was realised to carry out a comprehensive and complete assessment of all the children enrolled in education programme for visually impaired in Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Another objective of this exercise was to sensitise the key stakeholders towards the needs of these children and also to identify the ways and means through which a sustainable mechanism can be evolved so as to ensure that the children with VI get the best available support. This exercise will also lead to identify the unmet need in terms of how many children with blindness and visual impairment still don’t have access to education.
RATIONALE:
According to surveys carried out over the last ten years in various parts of the world there are a number of children who are either attending special schools or IE programmes who have adequate vision to cope in the mainstream setup. Also there are children who could benefit from surgical or refractive interventions and are needlessly blind. The main reasons for this are lack of coordination between eye care and education services and also the unavailability of personal trained to deal with children who have visual impairment.
The children with visual impairment can be divided into three sub-categories. Those with moderate visual impairment i.e. between 6/60 to >6/18 can manage well in the mainstream education with some support from teachers’ parents and provision of optical and non-optical low vision (LV) devices. Almost all the children in this category can manage without additional support.
The second group i.e. children with severe visual impairment 3/60 to >6/60 need higher level of intervention and here the prescription and other support required is more complex. The degree of success with mainstream education depends more upon the parents and teachers and varies from case to case. Almost 50% children still can cope in mainstream schools.
Those with vision less than 3/60 (blind) often cannot cope in mainstream education with out support from itinerant teachers however a certain number about 10%-20% can still manage well, especially in higher grades. The remaining children in this category require more intensive support from the itinerant teacher, tactile materials including Braille, assistive technology, and teaching aids.
PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW
The purpose of the assessment is to review a random sample of children with visual impairment who are in education programs to ascertain their status and initiate steps to introduce more appropriate interventions where required.
The findings will be used to identify those factors or issues, which have influenced the realisation of the programme objectives and to what extent the programme is achieving or likely to achieve its overall aim. The key learning points and recommendations from the review will contribute to the future development of the inclusive education (IE) programme across the Caribbean.
OBJECTIVES
- To conduct a comprehensive clinical assessment of the children (randomly selected) in the programme to ascertain the educational support they require
- To undertake a preliminary cognitive assessment of the children to support development of the programme
- To review the current and planned future coverage of the programme and the implications for this on quality IE services in the country
- To review the achievement of project outcomes against normative expectations among children without visual impairments; and make recommendations as appropriate for the future development of the IE programme.
METHODOLOGY: