Vocabulary notes

albinism – альбинизм, врожденная лейкопатия

amblyopia – амблиопия, ослабление зрения

braille-writer – приспособление для письма шрифтом Брайля

congenital cataract – врожденная катаракта

congenital glaucoma – врожденная глаукома

itinerant – маршрутный; переезжающий с места на место

low-prevalence disability – едва заметный недостаток

nystagmus – нистагм (непроизвольные ритмические двухфазные движения глазных яблок)

optic nerve atrophy – атрофия глазного нерва

proprioception (sensory awareness of the body's position in space) – проприоцепция

retinitis pigmentosa – ретинит пигментный (воспаление пигментного

слоя сетчатки)

retinopathy prematurity – ретролетальная фиброплазия, синдром Терри

strabismus – страбизм, косоглазие

visual loss – потеря зрения

Although visual impairment is a low-prevalence disability affecting only about one per cent of the population with handicapping conditions, the characteristics of the population of children and youth with visual impairments vary from individual to individual. Factors such as etiology and age of onset of visual impairments, type and severity of the visual loss, and incidence of additional impairments all have an impact on development and learning. Those children who become visually impaired prior to age 5 usually do not retain visual imagery and are taught concepts differently from those who lose their vision after this age.

Eye conditions found in children that may result in severe visual impairments that require intervention by specially trained teachers include: albinism, amblyopia, congenital cataracts, congenital glaucoma, nystagmus, optic nerve atrophy, retinitis pigmentosa, retinopathy of prematurity, strabismus.

Because of the lack of visual input, infants do not naturally know that objects exist out in the environment; they are therefore not motivated to reach or move toward objects. Until infants learn to connect the sound of an object with its source, they do not move, which further results in locomotor delays.

Using their remaining senses to acquire concepts and perceptions blind children acquire information in incomplete ways and sometimes reach erroneous conclusions.

Hearing provides clues as to distance and direction, but it does not provide any ideas regarding such concrete aspects as size and shape.

The sense of touch is helpful in furthering development of concrete concepts, but some objects are inaccessible to tactual observation. As a result of possible delays in acquiring concepts, such children fall behind their sighted peers in the development.

Visual-impairments prevent the child from acquiring increasingly complex language patterns. Such children ask more questions, change the topic to focus on their own interests, and relate more to adults in communication than to their peers.

A child with little or no vision can cause negative attitudes and becomes socially isolated. Some social skills to be taught specifically include looking at the person who is speaking, standing up straight with head up, positioning one's body at a certain distance from a peer or teacher, initiating conversations, joining a group, and learning to be a good listener and share in the conversation. Appearance, grooming, and current styles of dressing are also important in relation to furthering social skills.

In 1829 Louis Braille, a Frenchman who was himself blind invented a tactual system for reading and writing that is used by those who are blind or who have too little vision to be able to use print as a communication tool. Braille consists of embossed characters using various combinations of raised dots in a braille cell, which is two dots wide and three dots high. Young students write in braille at the same time as they learn to read it. They use the braille-writer. The specially trained teacher of learners with visual impairments is responsible for providing braille reading and writing instruction.

(E.L. Meyen. Exceptional children for today’s school. – Love Publishing Company, University of Kanzas, 1990. – 538 p.)