Children and young people with vision impairment - the facts

 Vision Impairment (VI)

From a functional standpoint, a child or young person can be considered to have a vision impairment if this interferes with optimal development, learning and achievements unless adaptations are made in the methods of presenting learning experiences, the nature of the materials used and/or the learning environment (ref. Barragan's definition cited in Flanagan et al, 2003, p 497). This definition includes children and young people with other disabilities/impairments in addition to vision, including those with profound and complex needs.

The term 'learning' includes not just academic learning but the acquisition of mobility, life, independence and social skills that, in the case of a child or young person with a vision impairment, would be provided through specialist input from a habilitation officer or QTVI.

The following classification applies to corrected vision with both eyes open. Acuity criteria are for guidance purposes only. The professional judgement of a Qualified Teacher of the Vision Impaired (QTVI) should be applied as necessary to decide on the classification. For example, a child or young person may have a mild reduction in visual acuity but be functioning within a different visual category due to an additional ophthalmic condition, e.g. an oculomotor disorder such as nystagmus, visual field reduction, cerebral vision impairment, and/or additional learning difficulties).

In the case of a child or young person undergoing a patching programme, the framework can be applied whilst the child or young person is patched, with further vision assessment carried out following the programme.

Distance vision:

   Mild vision loss Within the range 6/12 - 6/18 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.3 – 0.48)

   Moderate vision loss Less than 6/19 - 6/36 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.5 – 0.78)

   Severe vision loss Less than 6/36 - 6/120 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 0.8 – 1.3)

   Profound vision loss Less than 6/120 Snellen/Kay (LogMAR 1.32+)

Near vision:

Refer to standardized tests such as Kays, BUST, Maclure at 33 cms.

   Mild vision loss N14-18

   Moderate vision loss N18-24

   Severe vision loss N24-36

   Profound vision loss Educationally blind/Braille user/can access small quantities of print larger than N36

Key facts:

  • Total number of children and young people on active vision impairment service caseloads, or known to services, is 31,165 across 137 LAs in England. (RNIB 2023 FOI)
  • This caseload represents an increase of 2 per cent on the previous year. Caseloads have also increased year on year since 2020. (RNIB 2023 FOI)
  • The total number of CYP that use braille (of those authorities who answered) as their sole or main literacy medium across England is 773. It is these CYP that will require the highest levels of support. (RNIB 2023 FOI).
  • DfE figures identify 9,766 pupils with vision impairment as their primary need at SEN support and 3,835 with EHCPs (DfE 2024). In contrast, more than 30,000 children and young people were on VI service caseloads, or known to services.
  • Children and young people with severe vision impairment/blindness may have particular difficulties in their use of language for social communication.
  • Around half of children with vision impairment have additional special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). 

Vision impairment in UK children with learning disabilities very high. The prevalence rate for this cohort aged 0 ‐ 19 is 5.6%.

The population of children with vision impairment falls into two distinct sub‐populations:

       those without additional impairments/disorders

       those with additional impairments/disorders.

There is a marked difference in need and outcome measures for both these groups.

Your local Sensory Service should be able to provide accurate numbers of CYP with sensory loss including level of need, level of loss and placement in your area.

RNIB FOI Report 2023 https://www.rnib.org.uk/living-with-sight-loss/supporting-others/left-out-of-learning/freedom-of-information-reports/

DFE Special Educational Needs England. 2024 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england