Visual Impairment

First published in 1998. This book embodies the positive philosophy that children with a visual impairment are entitled to access to the full national curriculum during their school years. In the UK, education placements for pupils and students with special needs range across a continuum from special schools and colleges, with day or residential attendance, to specialist units or individual integration into mainstream provision. Placement results from inter-disciplinary assessment and consultation and requires parental agreement. Lack of sight and measurably impaired vision constitute special needs in educational terms. The writers who have contributed to this major text are teachers and lecturers from both the specialist and mainstream areas of provision and have considerable first-hand experience in teaching pupils and students with a visual impairment.

Heather Mason is Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. Previously she worked both in mainstream education and at Priestley Smith School, Birmingham. She has worked extensively overseas and is an OFSTED inspector. Her PhD thesis developed a new assessment tool for blind pupils, the STIP (Speed of Tactile Information Processing). Stephen McCall is a Lecturer in Special Education at the University of Birmingham, School of Education. Previously, he taught at St Vincent’s School, Liverpool and was a peripatetic teacher for seven years. He has undertaken teaching and consultancy work in Eastern Europe, Africa and the USA. He has directed funded research into literacy for touch readers and among his publications is the Birmingham Braille Course.