Vision Support Team
About the Service
The Vision Support Team (VST) provides specialist teaching and support to children and young people, from birth to age 25, who have an identified vision impairment. The team work with families, in schools and settings across the Birmingham authority area to remove barriers to children’s learning.
The following video ‘Do You See What I See?’ was written and performed by Birmingham students with vision impairment. It is meant for all teaching and non-teaching staff working with children and young people with vision impairment.
More information for parents and carers on how VST supports children and young people is available in the Vision Support Parent Leaflet.
How to Identify Vision Difficulties
A child/young person with an undiagnosed visual difficulty could be displaying one or more of the following:
- Clumsiness.
- Poor hand/eye co-ordination.
- Poor posture, including hunching up over close work.
- Tilting head to one side.
- Holding reading materials too close or too far.
- Confusing letters or numbers of similar shape.
- Frowning or facial grimaces, including squinting (screwing up their eyes).
- Complaining of dizziness or headaches.
- Constant rubbing of the eyes or excessive blinking.
- Complaining of eyes aching.
- Complaining of blurred or double vision.
- Sensitivity to light.
- Behaviour issues.
- Seeing floaters in their eyes that do not disappear after a few minutes (lines, zigzags etc).
- Seeing halos of light or flashes of light.
- Blurred vision.
- Double vision.
- Sudden pain in the eye that does not disappear after a few minutes.
- Change in Iris colour (front of the eye).
What to Do
If you observe your child experiencing one or more of the above:
- Speak to them and check if they have noticed any difficulties with their vision recently (if they are old enough to be able to express this).
- Even if your child has not been able to express any visual difficulties book them in for an assessment by your local Optician (vision tests for children are free).
- Or if it is evident that there are visual differences/difficulties, and the child is experiencing pain a Doctor’s appointment will be more appropriate after an initial conversation over the telephone with an Optician. The Optician will advise which is the most appropriate route to take.
- If your child needs glasses, then the Optician will prescribe them. Ensure when you speak to the Optician that it is clear what the glasses should be worn for- near vision tasks such as reading, distance vision tasks such as watching TV and looking at the whiteboard, or both.
- If the Optician feels that further investigations are needed and your child may have a vision impairment (that the glasses can not fully correct), they will make a referral to an Ophthalmologist at a local hospital.
- The Ophthalmologist will undertake more in-depth assessments and determine what diagnosis, if any, that your child may have. It is at this point a referral to the Vision Support Team may be made.
A requirement for a referral to the Vision Support Team will be evidence of a medical letter with a Vision Diagnosis from an Ophthalmologist, where it shows the child/young persons’ vision is reduced in some way (near/distance/field loss) even if glasses/contact lenses are prescribed.
The Support on Offer
VST support children and young people from 0-25 years with a diagnosis of a vision impairment. We work with families at home and in schools and settings to remove barriers to pupil’s learning, social interaction, and help them to develop independence. We work closely with health professionals including ophthalmologist and optometrists.
VST will support your child or young person by:
- Helping to understand your child’s vision loss and how it affects your child
- Supporting with low-vision aids
- Offering emotional support for you and your child
- Conducting training for adults working with your child
- Supporting around starting or changing nursery or school
- Assessing your child’s functional vision
- Setting goals
- Offering written guidance on how best to support your child
- Working with other professionals who support your child
- Carrying out in-class observations and Individual teaching sessions
- Helping older children to understand their own vision loss
- Creating opportunities for children with vision loss to meet other children with vision loss
- Sharing information about local support groups and voluntary agencies
You can access VST by doing the following:
- Talk to the Special Educational Needs & Disability Coordinator (SENCo) at your child’s school or setting
- Visit the website or contact us on the Vision Support Team referral email address: VSTReferrals@birmingham.gov.uk
- If you are a professional an believe a child or young person meet our criteria, please use the following referral and consent form
- Parents, carers, and schools must complete both the referral form and the parental consent form to refer to the Vision Support Team
Who Makes up the VST?
The vision support team is made up of the following people:
Qualified Teachers of Children and Young People with a Vision Impairment (QTVI)
QTVI’s are rained teachers who hold an additional mandatory qualification which enables them to be involved in providing specialist teaching and support to pupils with vison impairment.
Specialist TA’s
Specialist TA’s are equipped with extensive knowledge and experience in supporting pupils with low vision, and those who access their learning through a tactile curriculum.
IT Technicians
IT Technicians provide support in schools and settings with setting up and maintaining assistive technologies, specialist software and equipment to enable pupils to access their learning.
Habilitation Specialists
Habilitation Specialists have a Habilitation qualification and are involved in working with children and families to develop children’s independence and safely navigate their environments.
Reprographics Specialist
Reprographics Specialists support schools with modifying learning resources and work closely with schools to support them to access modified learning resources and equipment
Referrals
In order to refer a child or young person to VST, one of the following must apply:
- Your child or young person has a vision impairment diagnosed by an Ophthalmologist which cannot be corrected through the wearing of glasses or contact lenses
- Your child or young person is displaying visual difficulties with accessing their learning and are under assessment by an Ophthalmologist and awaiting a diagnosis
Referrals can be made to the Vision Support Team by Ophthalmologists and Orthoptists, other medical professionals, schools, pre-school settings, colleges, other professionals and families.
To refer to the Vision Support Team you will need to:
- Complete the Referral to the Vision Support Team
- Gain written parental/carer consent Parental Consent- Vision Support Team
- Gain a copy of a medical letter that states the ophthalmic diagnosis or demonstrates that the child or young person is being investigated by a hospital Ophthalmology department for a vision impairment. (This might not be from an Ophthalmologist, but could be a medical letter written by another medical professional, such as a paediatrician)
- Please send the email to VSTReferrals@birmingham.gov.uk
Please be aware that in order for VST to make a prompt response to any referrals, it is essential that we have the following information correct:
- Spelling of the child’s full name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Parental phone number
- Name and phone number of the setting/school
Parent Feedback
We are often asked at the Vision Support Team – how do we know we have had an impact? Here we have included the feedback we have received from some of our parents. If you would like to give feedback to our Vision Support Team Service, please email: SSParentenquiry@birmingham.gov.uk