North East Education VI Network
Regional vision impairment (VI) teams work with babies, children and young people aged 0 - 25 (if they remain in education).
It is important that after clinical diagnosis an early referral is made, as this will enable the VI teams to support parents, observe visual behaviour, and offer practical advice and signpost to other agencies and support groups.
After a visual function assessment within the home, early years or educational setting appropriate levels of involvement will be determined by using the NatSIP Eligibility Criteria, (national standardised criteria for scoring support levels).
Criteria for referral to all regional services
- visual acuities of 6/18 or worse, after optical correction
- near vision recorded as N12 or worse, after optical correction
- visual field problems such as hemianopia, tunnel vision and children with a prosthesis
- photophobia
- specific degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa
- cataracts
- glaucoma
- nystagmus
- a cerebral visual impairment
Advice on:
- severe difficulty with colour discrimination/confusion, for example red/green colour blindness
- monocular vision
- severe eye movement abnormality
- visual perception
- children experiencing significant difficulties as a result of temporary patching to correct a squint
Appropriate levels of involvement will be decided after assessment of visual functioning for educational purposes by the VI teams.