Visual Impairment

The Visual Impairment Service offers support for children and young people with a visual impairment, by identifying and addressing barriers to their learning. Peripatetic qualified teachers of the visually impaired (QTVIs) visit children and young people in their educational setting, or home, where appropriate. The team provide support and guidance to children and young people, their parents/carers and teachers to maximise access to learning, wellbeing and equity in educational experiences.

This is achieved by:

• Early intervention to identify and address the needs of children/young people with a visual impairment.
• Monitoring and assessment of functional vision.
• One-to-one teaching of specialist skills e.g. braille, using specialised assistive technology, the development of independence and providing emotional support for general wellbeing.
• Provision of adapted learning materials for visually impaired students produced by a transcription assistant.  
• Home visits offering advice and support to parents and carers, and personalised programmes for visually impaired pre-school children.
• Advice and support for transitions at every stage of the educational journey.
• Support for work experience and World of Work initiatives.
• Reinforcement of mobility skills taught by habilitation specialists.
• Delivering awareness raising sessions on visual impairments to educational staff and peers.
• Collaborative working with health, social work, educational psychologists, Skills Development Scotland, voluntary organisations and various support groups.