When children and adults apply for disability benefits and claim that a visual impairment has limited their ability to function, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to determine their eligibility. To ensure that these determinations are made fairly and consistently, SSA has developed criteria for eligibility and a process for assessing each claimant against the criteria. Visual Impairments: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits examines SSA's methods of determining disability for people with visual impairments, recommends changes that could be made now to improve the process and the outcomes, and identifies research needed to develop improved methods for the future. The report assesses tests of visual function, including visual acuity and visual fields whether visual impairments could be measured directly through visual task performance or other means of assessing disability. These other means include job analysis databases, which include information on the importance of vision to job tasks or skills, and measures of health-related quality of life, which take a person-centered approach to assessing visual function testing of infants and children, which differs in important ways from standard adult tests.

An overview of the new techniques that account for the progress and heightened activity in developmental cognitive science research.

Nystagmus in Infancy and Childhood is a highly-illustrative and thoughtfully written text that provides clinicians and scientists with detailed yet concise information regarding our current understanding, evaluation, and treatments of nystagmus in infancy and childhood. Throughout the text are clinical pearls and narrative observations intended to help the reader appreciate the enormous strides forward in the past 50 years of nystagmus research. Timely and comprehensive, this book is an "everything you need to know" resource, and will provide the reader with: - detailed methodologies of investigation, including analysis software, models of the ocular motor system, and current hypotheses regarding ocular motor oscillations - complementary appendices that can be used for special purposes, i.e., as clinical examination sheets, patient information sheets, and algorithm for computer analysis of nystagmus waveforms - new therapeutic approaches, using relevant eye-movement data and mechanisms - a roadmap toward a more rational, data-driven approach to the medical management of infantile nystagmus As the only resource effectively comprising the past 50 years of nystagmus research and therapeutic implications, Nystagmus in Infancy and Childhood will be a comprehensive and invaluable guide to for both clinicians and scientists who care for infants and children with nystagmus.

Presents an overview of the issues associated with the assessment of young children's vision for optometrists and optometry students. A practical rather than scholarly guide, which includes both experimental data and step-by-step instructions on how to use the techniques. Topics include the importance of early visual assessment, ocular health, contrast sensitivity, and eye movements. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.