Title:
Sight impaired at age seven: secondary analysis of the Millennium Cohort Survey
Author:
John Harris, Sue Keil, Chris Lord and Sally McManus
Publisher:
RLSB, RNIB and NatCen
Year of publication:
2013
Background
The Millennium Cohort Survey (MCS) is a longitudinal survey of 19,000 children born in 2000. It covers a variety of topics including the children's health, wellbeing, behaviour, education and social experiences. In 2012 the Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB), with RNIB as partner organisation, commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to carry out statistical analysis of the MCS with the aim of identifying children at the age of seven with a sight impairment and comparing their experiences with those of the other children in the survey who did not have a sight impairment. The findings presented here draw on information collected from nearly 14,000 children aged seven (357 with sight impairment and 13,500 without), their parents and their teachers.
Because other research has identified differences in outcomes for children whose sight impairment is their only disability/special educational need compared to children with a sight impairment and an additional disability/special educational need, the analysis looked at 3 groups of children with sight impairment:
-
Sight impairment only
-
Sight impairment plus additional impairment
-
All children with sight impairment (i.e. both groups combined)
Key findings
-
Children with sight impairment at age 7 were much more likely than children without sight impairment to live in a family experiencing financial hardship. Children with sight impairment also differed across a range of characteristics associated with wellbeing when compared with sighted children of the same age. For example, parents of children with sight impairment were significantly more likely than other parents to say that their child had emotional, concentration or behaviour difficulties; was often unhappy, downhearted or low; and wet the bed at least once a week.
-
For children with sight impairment and another impairment however, the differences were often greater and applied to a greater number of variables. This group in particular, was likely to have less exposure to social and cultural events, have fewer friends and do less physical activity.
-
There were clear differences between children with a sight impairment (with or without an additional impairment) and children with no sight impairment on a number of variables in relation to education, indicating different experiences of school and different levels of attainment between these two groups
-
Children with sight impairment were more likely to be experiencing difficulties with reading and writing than children with no sight impairment. There were also indications that a higher proportion may have been experiencing greater difficulties with maths and science although these differences did not reach statistical significance.
-
For children with sight impairment and another impairment the differences were often greater and applied to a greater number of variables in relation to their experiences of school and learning.
-
Children with sight impairment and another impairment were more likely to dislike school, to not like answering questions in class and to believe that their teacher 'never' thought they were clever. They were more likely to say they were bullied at school all of the time and to never feel safe in the playground. They were more likely to dislike reading, number work, science and PE. This dislike appears to be reflected in parent and teacher assessments of their academic attainment, with children in this group more likely to be experiencing difficulties with reading, writing, maths, science and PE and to be rated by their teachers as below or well below average at these subjects.
-
Further research is needed to understand to what extent these differences may be due to the developmental effects of sight or other impairment; the effects of different levels of severity of sight impairment; what role is played by social and economic disadvantage; and to identify best practice in ameliorating these effects. Further work is also urgently needed to address the particular problems of children with sight and other impairment in relation to their emotional, psychological and social development, to identify the most effective interventions to help them build a positive sense of self worth.
Downloads