Identifying Visually Impaired Children in a California School District
As the result of in-service training and public information efforts in the Fremont (California) Unified School District, 138 children were referred to the district's program for visually impaired students over a 3½-year period. Forty-six percent of these children were actually visually impaired. School nurses and parents accounted for almost half the referrals. When the children were categorized by grade level, the largest number came from grade 4. When categorized by age, the largest number were 13 years old. The assumption that referrals would concentrate at four levels—entry into formal education and grades 4, 7 and 9—was supported by the data, except for grade 7. The assessment procedures developed for the program and the importance of evaluating use of vision in the classroom are discussed.