Visual Impairment (VI)

What's Required

(12)  Visual impairment.

(A)  A student with a visual impairment is one who has been determined to meet the criteria for visual impairment as stated in 34 CFR, §300.8(c)(13). The visual loss should be stated in exact measures of visual field and corrected visual acuity at a distance and at close range in each eye in a report by a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist. The report should also include prognosis whenever possible. If exact measures cannot be obtained, the eye specialist must so state and provide best estimates. In meeting the criteria stated in 34 CFR, §300.8(c)(13), a student with a visual impairment is one who:

(i)  has been determined by a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist:
(I)  to have no vision or to have a serious visual loss after correction; or
(II)  to have a progressive medical condition that will result in no vision or a serious visual loss after correction; and

(ii)  has been determined by the following evaluations to have a need for special services:
(I)  a functional vision evaluation by a certified teacher of students with visual impairments or a certified orientation and mobility specialist. The evaluation must include the performance of tasks in a variety of environments requiring the use of both near and distance vision and recommendations concerning the need for a clinical low vision evaluation; and

(II)  a learning media assessment by a professional certified in the education of students with visual impairments. The learning media assessment must include recommendations concerning which specific visual, tactual, and/or auditory learning media are appropriate for the student and whether or not there is a need for ongoing evaluation in this area.

(B)  A student with a visual impairment is functionally blind if, based on the preceding evaluations, the student will use tactual media (which includes braille) as a primary tool for learning to be able to communicate in both reading and writing at the same level of proficiency as other students of comparable ability.

(C)  Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, a full individual and initial evaluation of a student suspected of having a visual impairment must include an orientation and mobility evaluation conducted by a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist and must be conducted in a variety of lighting conditions and in a variety of settings, including in the student's home, school, and community and in settings unfamiliar to the student.

(D)  Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist must participate, as part of a multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data used in making the determination of the student's eligibility as a student with a visual impairment.

(E)  Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, the scope of any reevaluation of a student who has been determined, after the full individual and initial evaluation, to be eligible for the district's special education program on the basis of a visual impairment must be determined, in accordance with 34 CFR, §§300.122 and 300.303-300.311, by a multidisciplinary team that includes an appropriately certified orientation and mobility specialist


What We Do

A student with a visual impairment is one who
  • Has been determined by a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist
    • To have no vision or to have a serious visual loss after correction or
    • To have a progressive medical condition that will result in no vision or a serious visual loss after correction.
  • Has been determined by the following evaluations to have a need for special services
    • A functional vision evaluation (FVE) by a professional certified in the education of students with visual impairments or a certified orientation and mobility specialists.  The evaluation must include the performance of tasks in a variety of environments requiring the use of both near and distance vision evaluation and an orientation and mobility evaluation.
    • A learning media assessment (LMA) by a professional certified in the education of students with visual impairments.  The evaluation must include recommendations concerning which specific visual, tactual, and/or auditory learning media are appropriate for the student and whether there is a need for ongoing evaluation in this area.
A student who has a visual impairment is functionally blind, if based on the preceding evaluations the student will use tactual media (Braille) as a primary tool   for communication.


Forms