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Educational support for children with visual impairments (VIs) at school relies on effective information-sharing between hospital eye services and schools. There may be delays in this process which impede school staff’s efforts to help affected children. As part of a programme of work aiming to improve outcomes for children with cerebral visual impairments (CVIs), this study carried out qualitative interviews to understand the views of primary school staff about receiving and using external specialist advice in general. These data can be used to inform and improve information-sharing aimed at supporting children in primary school who have VI. Views of primary school teachers and staff with responsibility for supporting children with additional needs were elicited in nine interviews, across three mainstream primary school settings in Gloucestershire, UK. Interviews were carried out in October 2017. Participants were asked about their experiences of working with children with additional needs and engaging with outside specialist providers. Thematic analysis was used to look for patterns in the data. Interviews revealed four major themes: understanding the condition (including training, individual differences, and understanding the aim of the strategy); translating reports into action (including adaptations to recommendations, team working, and communication formats); follow-up (including feedback and measuring progress); and barriers and opportunities for accessing support (including systematic barriers, going private, and ideal scenarios). This small study provides insights into how teachers and school staff perceive the relationship with external specialists. Services for children with VI in primary schools may be enhanced if they provide information about the impact of VI; about the underlying conditions if known, training and awareness activities for staff and offer a route for follow-up or enquiries. These insights can be used to inform service design and policy.

Through the use of their developing vision, young children develop increasingly sophisticated ways of establishing control within different learning environments, thereby helping them to exert influence as active ‘agents’. Vision impairment can present significant barriers to a child developing personal agency through reducing access to visual information. In this article, we present the parameters of a conceptual framework to inform the design of intervention approaches that can help to reduce these barriers. We draw on a dual model of ‘access’, contextualised within a bioecological systems perspective, to examine how young children with vision impairment can establish increasing personal agency through intervention approaches that promote progressive independence access skills within an ‘ethos of empowerment’. In presenting new conceptual foundations for examining the development of personal agency in young children with vision impairment, the article has significance for research, policy, and practice in vision impairment education and offers a theoretical reference point for related areas of early childhood inclusive education.

Social-emotional development has a significant impact on children’s well-being and academic achievement. This chapter considers the impact of vision impairment on social-emotional development from an early age and what adults need to be aware of when promoting development in this area. It addresses issues such as facilitating positive interactions, teaching social skills effectively, providing realistic feedback and promoting self-determination and independence. It includes the views of young people with vision impairment as well as those of peripatetic/itinerant teachers supporting them on what works well and what can be challenging. This chapter concludes with a range of strategies that promote inclusion and the development of social-emotional competence in educational settings.

We would describe teaching literacy through braille as one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of the role of a Qualified Teacher for the Visually Impaired (QTVI). This article focuses on teaching literacy through braille in mainstream settings whilst promoting inclusion and meeting the social–emotional needs of children who use braille. It aims to share good practice and is based on reflections from our own practice and research carried out by some of the authors. The article considers the impact of vision impairment on opportunities for literacy development, the main challenges QTVIs working in a peripatetic (itinerary) way face, as well as what works well and how we can overcome these challenges. The article describes what characterises good practice in teaching braille, describes effective collaborative work between teachers, other professionals and parents, and analyses how to promote inclusion whilst ensuring pupils access the specialist curriculum and individualised instruction.

To meet the socio-emotional needs of children with vision impairment, it is important that professionals involved have a good understanding of these needs and are able to interpret children's behaviours. Professionals also need to create contexts that promote social inclusion alongside academic achievement. This is a continuous challenge for professionals but it is crucial both for children's development and for ensuring effective inclusive practices. In this article, research and practice are brought together to explore the needs of children with vision impairment in the area of socio-emotional development and inclusion, and to explore ways of making it happen.

Children with visual impairment and a condition affecting their neurodevelopment (children with VND) may require extensive and specialised help but evidence on the most effective strategies for visual improvement is lacking. We defined a PICO format (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) for a scoping review and systematically searched 13 databases. Two reviewers assessed the abstracts for inclusion and a third arbitrated in cases of disagreement. We abstracted data from included studies. We found 4450 abstracts from which we identified 107 papers for inclusion. Of these, 42 related to interventions involving a change in visual input or function: 5 controlled trials, 8 before and after studies and 29 case reports. The strongest evidence supported the provision of spectacles to improve distance or near vision and the use of ultraviolet light as environmental modification for training. Less strong but suggestive evidence supported training/practice routines to improve acuity or oculomotor control. Interventions exist to help children with VND and current recommendations that they are assessed by a vision specialist are supported by the evidence. More information is needed on the effectiveness of training/practice programmes which may promote improved function, and of environmental modifications to facilitate engagement of children with VND with the surroundings.