Onlineinset.net - Demonstration

What is visual impairment?

Children are not born with full vision.

Vision continues to develop until 5-7 years of age. The table below shows how vision develops in children. Reduced vision during this period of development is normal and not regarded as a visual impairment.

Typical normal distance vision

Age	Distance vision Snellen Metres	Distance vision LogMAR	Near vision
Birth	6/300	1.0 +	difficult to assess accurately
3 months	6/90 to 6/30	1.0 to 0.7	difficult to assess accurately
6 months	6/36 to 6/30	0.8 to 0.7	difficult to assess accurately
9 months	6/24	0.6	difficult to assess accurately
12 months	6/18	0.4 to 0.5	difficult to assess accurately
18 months	6/12	0.3	difficult to assess accurately
2 years	6/12 to 6/9	0.2 to 0.3	6/12
3 years	6/9 to 6/6	0 to 0.2	6/12
3 - 5 years	6/9 to 6/6	0 to 0.2	6/9
7 years	6/9 to 6/6	0 to 0.2	6/6 (N5 print)

Visual impairment is the consequence of a functional loss of vision as a result of a disorder, disease or injury to the eye, optic nerve or brain.

Lens correction does not always work

A child or young person is thought to have a visual impairment if they have an eye condition that cannot be fully corrected using glasses.

The term visual impairment is used to cover a range of conditions and a range of levels of vision. The term includes all blind and partially sighted people.

A person may be registered sight impaired (partially sighted) if their visual acuity (a measure of their ability to see fine detail) is between 3/60 (they can see at 3 metres what a normally sighted person can see at 60) and 6/60 (they can see at 6 metres what a normally sighted person can see at 60). If, however, they have a restricted field, their visual acuity may be 6/24 with a moderate field reduction or 6/18 with severe field reduction. A person may be registered severe sight impaired (blind) if their visual acuity is below 3/60. It’s important to understand that you have to take into consideration not only visual acuity but how the child functions with their vision. Details of testing can be found in the assessment section.

Children may function very differently.

Visual acuity measurement
	Sight impaired	Normal sight
3/60	3 metres	60 metres
6/60	6 metres	60 metres