October 6, 2021
Today we talk about children with special visual needs and the ophthalmologist Catarina Paiva explains what can be done in these cases:
These are children who have an eye problem and, despite medical or surgical treatment, their vision does not reach 100%; therefore, we consider low vision, children who have a vision lower than 3 tenths. And this has implications: in learning, in locomotion, in the way they go about their daily lives, and for these children we must have a specific approach. These children should be assessed in a multidisciplinary consultation, in which, besides the ophthalmology team, we should intervene involving physiatry - because children may have various problems from the point of view of locomotion, posture, etc., and this is assessed by a physiatrist and a development colleague.
From an ophthalmological point of view, what we do is try to adapt the technical aids so that the child can enlarge or amplify the vision they have. We use aids to increase the distance, which is very important, namely to see the board; aids that make the image of the board increase so that the child can see. And we also use devices, or specific aids or glasses, special ones, in inverted commas, that enlarge what's near. And that's how we manage to make a child who, a priori, has a vision that would prevent him from performing well, namely at school - because it's very important, they're children who are learning - with these aids and with this approach they can see the board, they can read and write, and do everything in the most functional way possible.
In tomorrow's programme we talk about children who have no complaints but need to wear glasses.
With the support of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology.
