SD83 Hosts Low Vision Clinic for Region
Specialized lights, tools, and medical experts were on hand at a regional clinic to help children whose vision is not correctable with prescription glasses. The clinic was held at the District Education Support Centre (DESC) in Salmon Arm on December 5-6, 2024. This is the first time in 19 years the clinic has been held in SD83.
Each year, the Children’s Low Vision Program (CLVP-BC) holds clinics throughout British Columbia to assess the functional vision profiles of eligible learners and help families build low vision toolkits to help children at home, at school, and in the community.
“The day is all about what’s possible for these students,” comments Kelly Manduca, SD83’s teacher of students with visual impairments (TSVI).
The clinic team creates a welcoming and engaging atmosphere where families and kids with visual impairment have the time to ask questions of the medical professionals and to explore low and high technology tools and strategies which will help students in the classroom, home, and community. Students and their families spend as much time as they need at each of the professional’s stations.
For example, lighting is key to everyone’s access to visual information and it is especially important to someone with vision loss. The clinic provides a variety of the latest lighting solutions for students to try and borrow. With the specialist’s guidance, students explore settings from warm to cool and bright to dim to gain an understanding of what works best for them.
At the Orientation and Mobility station, the specialist assesses the student for a monocular. This handheld telescope can be used to read street signs or, at a recent field trip to Kamloops Wildlife Park, to see the resident grizzly digging a den. The clinic’s wraparound team provides assessment of vision, tools, and technology to help students make the most of their visual access. After the clinic, the teacher of students with visual impairments provides instruction to students to implement the use of the tools and technology within the school environment and support to families for their use at home.
The clinic hosted 10 students with low vision each day. Over the two days, six students from SD83 as well as students from Kamloops, Kelowna, and Vernon attended. Teachers of students with visual impairments refer and accompany their students with low vision to the clinic, which creates a wonderful opportunity for partnership between students, families, and vision professionals. Students are eligible to be re-referred to the clinic every two (2) years.
Clinic participants are first assessed by an optometrist and a pediatric ophthalmologist. They then meet with specialists in low vision devices, technology experts who demonstrate equipment available for loan through SET BC, an orientation and mobility specialist, and representatives from BC Blind Sports, who share information about recreation and sports opportunities across the province.
The CLVP team’s primary focus is to promote equitable access to information and to enhance quality of life for students with low vision. The team represents a unique intersection of different educational and medical perspectives on low vision including optometrists, pediatric ophthalmologists, TSVIs, certified orientation and mobility specialists (COMS), and access technology specialists. For more information about CLVP please click here.