Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021

Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021

Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021 Level/Program: Post Graduation (Master/Diploma)  

Title Course Code: Special Education for Visual Handicapped (678)

Question No 1: Write on the following:

  • Mobility techniques
  • Braille system of Reading and writing

Mobility :

Mobility SHORELINE – the guidelines of roads and pathways, edge or border of any road.

CLUE – any environmental sound, odor, object, or tactile information which can help the blind person determine his position or direction to move or to reach his objectives.

LANDMARK – any object, smell or sound, or other environmental information which has a known and fiscal location in the environment that can be used by a blind person to identify his exact position in the environment. It should be the only one of its kind in the environment.

Technologies :

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVICES

Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021 Assistive Technology is a generic term incorporating technology, equipment, devices, appliances, services, systems, processes, and environmental change (Environmental Modifications) used by people with disabilities or older people to overcome social, and infrastructural barriers, to actively participate in society, and to perform day-to-day activities easily, safely, and efficiently.  Visually impaired persons need security, safety, And devices can be grouped into the following Assistive technologies and devices for daily living  Assistive technologies and devices for navigation and orientation  Assistive technologies and devices for learning. Etc

 ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVICES FOR DAILY LIVING

Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021 This can also be grouped into the following Personal care, Timekeeping, alarms and alerting,  Food preparation and consumption,  Environmental control/ household appliances,  Money, finance, and shopping Personal care assistive technology refers to two main aspects: labeling and health care monitoring systems. LABELLING SYSTEM Visually impaired people need assistance in identifying different elements of their clothing. Labeling can be grouped in the following types of systems 2.0.1 ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVICES FOR PERSONAL CARE

Tactile labeling system which is based on different alphabets used for visually impaired like Braille,

Barcode labeling

A system which is using a barcode reader and scanner, where a beam of light is sent to the barcode to be read and the reflected ray is then read by the reader.

And the radio frequency identification labeling system Where a tag is given to each item, and then the tag is read by the reader using a radio signal whenever the tag is within the field of the reader

HEALTH CARE MONITORING SYSTEM

to assist visually impaired people in monitoring their general health, among which are: Talking blood pressure meter which measures the blood pressure and gives an audio output of the result. Talking blood glucose meter that measures blood glucose level and gives the voice output of the result

 TIMEKEEPING, ALARM, AND ALERTING

One can meet different types of time devices that exist for blind and visually impaired people. Many of these have speech or tactile output, Among which are: Braille watch that gives the time in Braille text

Talking watches with tactile output that provide both audios as well as the Braille output. And talking carbon monoxide detector which when detect the carbon monoxide inform this through voice output

FOOD PREPARATION AND CONSUMPTION

Food preparation and consumption play a significant role in the independent living of the visually impaired. There are different assistive technologies and devices in food preparation and consumption among which are: Talking kitchen thermometer which provides the audio output of the cooking temperature for the visually impaired

Talking kitchen scale which provides the audio output of the cooking ingredient and the foodstuff for the visually impaired. And many more

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

The control of the immediate home environment of visually impaired people is a condition for their independent life. This means that they have to control a number of home devices and that they have a constant need for feedback from their environment so that they can accommodate changes. Light probe and color probe devices can be used to get information from the environment. Talking and tactile thermometers.

Braille system:

Braille is a system of touch reading and writing for blind persons in which raised dots to represent the letters of the alphabet. It also contains equivalents for punctuation marks and provides symbols to show letter groupings. By using the braille alphabet, people who are blind can review and study the written word.

Braille system is a tactile writing and reading system used by blind people. It consists of patterns of raised dots. Rather, it is a code by which many languages such as English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, etc may be written and read

Who invented the braille system??

–Braille was invented by a French man. –Known as Louis Braille. –He himself was blind.

Why he invented the braille system?

Braille was determined to fashion a system of reading and writing that could bridge the critical gap in communication between the sighted and the blind. In his own words: “Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about.”

The description of braille system The present system of braille was adopted in 1932. – The braille is a code for common languages such as mathematics and scientific notation. – Most of the main languages can be read using the braille system.

Structure of braille system!– Braille is a system of language. – Braille system had 63 dot patterns or characters. – Each character represents a letter, a combination of letters, a common word, or a grammatical sign. – Dots are arranged in cells of two vertical rows of three dots each. Braille Cell

Nemeth Braille, Many years ago there was a blind man named Abraham Nemeth who wanted to go to college and take math classes. He needed a way to write math problems in braille. The literary braille code, the one we use for words, let him write numbers, but there weren’t braille characters for writing symbols we use in math like a “+” sign or a “÷” sign nor were there characters for writing really hard math problems or ones that had both letters and numbers in them like 4x – (7x + 5) = or ones with exponents like 102 × 12 = so he invented his own braille code. It was named after him, just like Louis Braille had the literary code-named after himself. Braille readers use the Nemeth code when they are in math class. You’ve learned that in the literary braille code the numbers are written by putting a number sign in front of the first 10 letters of the alphabet. In Nemeth code, we do the same thing, but the numbers are “dropped”.

Question No 2: Explain the categorization of the visual impairment. What may be the reasons for blindness in children?

Definition of impairment

Impairment is defined as “any loss or abnormality in an anatomical structure or a physiological or psychological function.” Similarly, a disability is “any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.”

This places an individual in a handicap that is a person’s disadvantaged position in society due to an impairment or disability.

Types of visual impairment

According to the CDC and the World Health Organization, the classification of visual acuity and impairment includes (1, 2)

Low visual acuity means vision between 20/70 and 20/400 with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less

Blindness is defined as visual acuity worse than 20/400 with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 10 degrees or less

Legal blindness in the US means visual acuity of 20/200 or worse with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less.

Visual acuity of 20/70 to 20/400 (inclusive) is considered moderate visual impairment or low vision.

Reasons for blindness in children :

There are many causes of blindness in children. Blindness may be due to genetic mutations, birth defects, premature birth, nutritional deficiencies, infections, injuries, and other causes. Severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), cataracts, Vitamin A deficiency, and refractive error also causes. Childhood blindness is commonly caused by vitamin A deficiency, measles, congenital cataracts, conjunctivitis in the newborn, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The relative prevalence of these causes varies in different resource settings

The commonest causes of visual impairment are uncorrected refractive errors, cataracts, and glaucoma. Age-related macular degeneration.

Epidemiological determinants • Age • Malnutrition • Occupation • Awareness • Access to healthcare

Prevention of avoidable blindness • Nutrition • Treatment • Control infections • Improving safety conditions

Proper waste disposal • Street waste –leaves, paper, straw, animal dropping • Market waste –putrid veg and animal matter • Stable litter –animal droppings and animal feeds • Domestic waste – ash, rubbish, garbage Personal Hygiene • Wash hands often • Daily baths • Treatment of people with eye infections • Eye hygiene

Eye injuries • Eye can be injured by sharp objects or chemicals. This happens usually in factories or homes. • The eye gets inflamed and the other eye can also show a similar reaction

Prevention and treatment Protective equipment has to be used if injuries are anticipated. The injured person has to be immediately examined by the eye doctor to see the extent of the injury. The foreign body has to be removed. Inflammation has to be treated carefully. The person has to be under medical care till s/he is absolutely safe.

Eye injuries

Cataract:

Cataract the lens of the eye becomes thick and less transparent. This means that the rays of light defining the object cannot pass through the lens as before. Thus eyesight becomes dim. As the lens thickens further it can burst and cause permanent damage to the eye. The lens can easily be removed by surgery. An artificial lens is inserted, which restores the sight. As they don’t know about cataracts or because they cannot get medical services, thousands become blind due to cataract

Glaucoma

There is a constant flow of fluid in the eyes. The fluid is secreted by glands and removed through a duct. If there is any obstruction to this flow, the pressure in the eye increases. This is the commonest type of glaucoma. This causes a headache, haloes around objects, hazy vision, sudden loss of vision, nausea, or vomiting. It can cause permanent damage to the nerves of the eyes. The condition can arise suddenly or over the years.(acute/ chronic)

Prevention and treatment If these symptoms are experienced you need to consult an ophthalmologist. If you are above 50, check your eyes annually. If discovered early, glaucoma can be treated by medicines and/ or surgery.

Refractive errors

Vision is affected if the curvature of the lens in the eye changes SHORT SIGHT – you can clearly see only nearby objects. As the distance increases your vision is blurred. LONG SIGHT- you can clearly see only distant objects. As distance decreases your vision is blurred. ASTIGMATISM.- Though you can see near and far, the images are blurred

Correcting Refractive errors • These can be corrected by testing your eyes at an eye clinic and wearing appropriate glasses

Question No 3: Define Low vision. What are the factors related to visual efficiency?

Low vision :

Low vision is the loss of sight that is not correctible with prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. This type of vision loss does not include complete blindness, because there is still some sight and it can sometimes be improved with the use of visual aids.

Low vision is both a subspecialist and a condition. Optometrists, Opticians, and Ophthalmologists after their training may undergo further training in Low vision assessment and management. There are various classifications for low vision, this varies from country to country and even from state to state. It must however be noted that the work of a low vision specialist is very important as they aid individuals with reduced vision even in the presence of conventional lenses to be able to make use of their residual vision. People benefitting from low vision assessment must be motivated to make use of the residual vision and must again be willing to use the various aids that would be prescribed.

Low vision visual acuity examinations are done using the LogMAR chart. The advantage that this presents is that it allows for more accurate measures of the individual’s vision to be recorded. Other tests are done and their significance are as follows:

Amsler’s grid test – to locate scotomas on the visual field of the individual

Colour sensitivity test – to assess the function of the Optic nerve

Contrast sensitivity test – to assess the function of rods photoreceptors

Visual field test – to know the extent of the individual’s field that is sensitive

Near visual acuity – to assess the reading ability at near.

Factors :

Some of the most common causes of low vision include age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, and glaucoma. Low vision may also result from cancer of the eye, albinism, brain injury, or inherited disorders of the eye including retinitis pigmentosa.

People age 65 and older, as well as African Americans and Hispanics over age 45, are at higher risk. African Americans and Hispanics are at higher risk for low vision because they are at higher risk for developing diabetes and diabetic retinopathy, and African Americans are at a higher risk for developing glaucoma.

A few eye conditions can cause night blindness, including nearsightedness, or blurred vision when looking at faraway objects. Cataracts, or clouding of the eye’s lens. Retinitis pigmentosa, which occurs when dark pigment collects in your retina and creates tunnel vision.

Eye diseases are more common in persons over 50 years of age. However, normal aging of the eye does not lead to low vision.

Because seeing involves both the eye and the brain, diseases that affect the brain, such as strokes, also can lead to low vision.

Low vision in a child can be caused by some of the same conditions as in adults. But there are other possible causes of childhood low vision these were some factors. Of less vision.

The retina is separated from its supporting structures & receives no nourishment. The blind area develops in the area of detachment  Area Affected – Retina. VISUAL EFFECTS LOW VISION AIDS

•Flashers & Floaters

•High illumination

•Visual acuity is decreased

•Filters, CPF lens

•Micropsia

•Magnification for both near and high quality.

Special Education for Visual Handicapped 678 Solved Paper 2021