A thorough review that covers fundamentals, assessment, clinical services, training and instructional services, and future directions. The author establishes a framework for understanding the impact of low vision on functioning, learning, and psychosocial status. Special sections contain chapters, reports, technical materials, curriculum guides, resources, and questionnaires by experts from 21 areas.

The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

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.

This Second Edition of Low Vision Rehabilitation: A Practical Guide for Occupational Therapists provides current, evidence-based information on low vision rehabilitation that contains several new and expanded chapters on ADLs, IADLs, and recreation, as well as new online resources and the latest in accessibility devices. Low vision rehabilitation is rapidly growing as a specialty practice for occupational therapists. This growth requires practical, evidence-based information on the evaluation and treatment of the effects of low vision on occupational performance. Responding to this need, Low Vision Rehabilitation: A Practical Guide for Occupational Therapists, Second Edition blends standards of practice that have been developed for over 50 years by low vision therapists and optometrists, with the latest scientific research and the unique perspective of occupational therapists. This text is written to introduce the student and general practitioner to low vision rehabilitation as commonly encountered in medical rehabilitation as well as provides a conceptual approach to evaluation and treatment that will enrich an advanced practice. Authors Stephen Whittaker, a low vision researcher, certified low vision therapist and occupational therapist, Mitchell Scheiman, an optometrist and researcher, and Debra Sokol-McKay, an occupational therapist with specialty certification in low vision as well as certification as a low vision therapist, vision rehabilitation therapist and diabetes educator, have carefully selected evidence-based evaluations and treatments that focus on clinical practicality and meaningful occupational goals in adults. New to the Second Edition: A focus on occupational performance using “whatever works,” whether visual, non-visual, or a combination of these different devices and adaptive techniques The “EPIC” Framework, a general strategy to organize a treatment plan for daily activities using visual and non-visual techniques Access to a companion website designed as a handy clinical reference, with solutions to clinical problems easily searchable and cross-linked to related content The “Success-Oriented Approach” to interventions based on the most recent research on cognitive disability and depression associated with low vision Applications of the latest electronic accessibility devices including smartphones, tablets, and magnifiers that read aloud Incorporates the AADETM 7 Self-Care Behavior framework of the American Association of Diabetes Educators Incorporates concepts from the latest edition of the AOTA Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process A chapter devoted to field loss, spatial neglect and perceptual impairments resulting from acquired-brain-injury. The latest in Medicare documentation standards including outcome to G-code conversions and ICD-10 diagnostic coding for low vision. Included with the text are online supplemental materials for faculty use in the classroom. Features Included: Recommended practical evaluation and treatment methods such as a 1 hour evaluation protocol, how to write observable and measurable goals and document outcomes, and specific instructions on how to implement treatments Prepares therapists for the ACVREP certification as a low vision therapist or vision rehabilitation or AOTA specialty certification in low vision Emphasizes intervention and low vision rehabilitation treatment including: modification of the environment adaptive visual and non-visual techniques selection and use of non-optical assistive devices selection and use of electronic and optical devices and use of computer technology including smartphones and tablets Comprehensive case studies on vision impairment resulting from eye disease to head injury and more Provides valuable information on how to start an independent practice in low vision rehabilitation Includes a chapter on diabetes management Low Vision Rehabilitation: A Practical Guide for Occupational Therapists, Second Edition employs an interdisciplinary perspective that is unique, practical, and credible and will benefit Occupational Therapy and Occupational Therapy Assistant students, as well as practicing clinicians interested in specializing in low vision or other health care practitioners for patients with vision impairment.

Written by a leader in the field, this book discusses the role of vision in reading. The author describes the influence of physical properties of text on reading performance and the implications for information processing in the visual pathways. He explores different forms of low vision that affect reading, text characteristics that optimize reading for those with low vision, principles underlying the legibility of text, and guidelines for displaying text. Special topics include the role of the magnocellular pathway in reading and dyslexia, Braille reading, and fonts for highway signs. An accompanying CD contains reprints of the seminal series of articles by Gordon E. Legge and colleagues published between 1985 and 2001.

A general, down-to-earth look at the common forms of vision loss and their impact on the individual. Explains the different aspects of visual impairment, describes adaptive techniques and devices, and provides information on available resources and services in a concise and easy-to-understand manner for busy professionals and visually impaired people and their families.

The contribution that this book makes to scholarship is regarded as ground-breaking, as it is based on recent research conducted with teachers on the ground-level, as well as on research and experiences of practitioners, gained over many years. In this volume, Understanding education for the visually impaired, the focus falls on understanding visual impairment within the South African context, more specifically on what the education of these learners entails. In addition to the contribution to existing literature in the fields of inclusive education and visual impairment, the publication has practical application value for teachers and practitioners who work with and support such learners.