This section is for teaching professionals who work with children and young people who have a visual impairment and additional learning, physical or sensory needs.
It includes information on
classroom activities, including lesson ideas and resources;
communication, including communication technology, touch and objects of reference; mobility and movement; and vision and hearing
assessments. You can also find information about the range of therapeutic interventions for children with complex needs, and understand more about
the roles of different professional colleagues.
Find out more about VITAL (Visual Impairment Touches All Learning), a national network of professionals working with children and young people with complex needs.
You may also be interested in our Visual impairment and Autism microsite, which investigates the approaches and strategies used with children who have both visual impairment and autism.
Also see our School age education section on supporting children in mainstream education.
*New* Early Support Developmental Journal for children with multiple needs
Early Support, the Government initiative for supporting families of disabled children, has released a new resource for children with multiple needs. The Developmental Journals have existed for some time for other disabilities, the one for children with visual impairment has been successfully used to support families for several years.
We welcome this new resource, which addresses the specific challenges faced by children with a combination of disabilities.
The Developmental Journal for Children and Young People with Multiple Needs has been produced to help families and practitioners support the achievements of children whose development is affected by multiple factors that result in challenges to learning.
It is based on the concept of a series of 'Can Do' cards which help parents and practitioners to observe, record and celebrate children's and young people's abilities, and to develop and strengthen these abilities. The Journal aims to supports key working by helping everyone involved with a child to share what they know and discuss how best to work together to support development and learning.
Online forum
Join our discussion on the Complex needs education forum. Post questions if you would like advice from other professionals, or share your ideas and experience.
Special schools and colleges in the UK
The following guide gives details of schools and colleges which are specifically for blind and partially sighted children and students, or have facilities for blind and partially sighted children and students. Many blind and partially sighted children are educated in mainstream schools, or in special schools that do not specialise in sight loss. We strongly advise contacting the Local Authority's Visual Impairment Teaching Service for information and advice about local provision.
Special schools and colleges in the UK
This guide list schools and colleges in the UK with specialist or partial provision for blind and partially sighted children and students.
Vision care for pupils in Special Schools in Wales
This is a collaborative project between the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences at Cardiff University, and RNIB Cymru. The project is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government as part of the Children's Low Vision Project in Wales.
The project aims to:
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determine the prevalence of visual impairment and uncorrected refractive error among children and young people in Special Schools in Wales.
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ensure that every child and young person in a Special School in Wales receives appropriate and timely vision and eye care and, if required, receives support from other relevant services.
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evaluate the effectiveness of the programme and disseminate the findings as widely as possible.
For more information, please contact cypf@rnib.org.uk