2.4. WRITING THE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT

The ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities and Health) proposes that nine different aspects of functioning should be evaluated: learning and applying knowledge, general tasks and demands, communication, mobility, self care, domestic life, interpersonal interactions and relationships, major life areas, community, social and civic life.

The paediatric ICF should be published in near future. In terms of assessment of vision it is likely to follow the Management of Low Vision in Children (WHO/PBL/93.27) published in 1993.

The table in this paragraph is a summary of the description of a child's techniques. If a child uses both blind and low vision techniques, it is marked with a line between the two alternative columns: . Some children may use all three types of techniques. In that case there will be a connecting line between all three columns: . This graphic summary gives a clear overview of the child's techniques. It can be fine tuned by placing the or an "x" either in the middle of the column, toward the side of a column or quite close to the line between the columns.

O&M = orientation and mobility, ADL = activities of daily life, SNVT = sustained near vision tasks

This kind of rough graphic documentation of the child's functioning often effectively explains the varying needs of the child in different tasks. Administrative persons who do not work with visually impaired children or adults find it difficult to understand that a child may function like a sighted person but also like a person with low vision or like a blind person depending on the activity. The long questionnaire at the end of this manual is useful in collecting information for comparative studies.

In the questionnaire at the end of this Part I, the questions fit best the life situation of a teenage child or an adult person. For younger children the list has to be modified to depict the age appropriate functions in the main areas of development as described in the introductory lecture.

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