• Publishing Information
• Preface
• Field 1 - Development of schools and professionalism
• Supporting New Teachers at the Beginning of their Professional Careers: A Collegial Mentoring Project in Styria, Austria
• Using Social Software on Erasmus Exchange: A Qualitative Study of How Erasmus Outgoing Students from the University College of Teacher Education are using Social Software during their Erasmus Student Exchanges
• Happiness Makes School
• Field 2 - Early childhood
• An Analysis of Preschool Children’s Perspectives on their Relationships with Adults
• Field 3 - Language
• Support of Plurilingualism of Students in Narva College of the University of Tartu, Estonia by Implementing CLIL and Trilingual Educational Model
• Learning Space Deutschlandsberg – Creating Language Friendly Learning Environments
• MALEDIVE - Diversity in Majority Language Learning - Supporting Teacher Education
• Field 4 - Diversity
• When Perception is Upside Down
• Field 5 - Natural Science and Health
• Inquiry-based Learning and Teaching for the Development of Students’ Competences in Science
• Living with Type 1 Diabetes
• Appendix
• Editors

When Perception is Upside Down

Gertrude Jaritz, Birgit Schloffer

„Cerebral visual impairment is one of the most common eye diseases in the Western world“ (Gordon Dutton).

Many visually impaired children in Austria have Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI). Unfortunately, the assessment process is inefficient and there is little confidence in the results. This casts doubt on the development of learning strategies. The project team members began a research project within the framework of the University College of Teacher Education Styria and the Odilien Institute (Odilien-Institut Graz), a school for the visually impaired to answer the questions of how children with CVI can see and how better learning strategies can be created for these children. Prof. Lea Hyvärinen, an ophthalmologist from Finland (via TU Dortmund), and Dr. Marjolein Dik, a neuropsychologist from the Netherlands, graciously agreed to participate in the project as cooperative partners.

The initial phase of research took place in 2010-2011. When the project began, there was neither medical and neuropsychological diagnosis nor collaboration between the disciplines. Therefore, it was necessary to start with a visual assessment of the participating students. First, the families and the vision teachers provided their perspectives in a questionnaire adapted from Gordon Dutton’s. The parents were also asked to provide all relevant medical reports. Then Prof. Hyvärinen examined the children and made a functional diagnosis in the context of vision and CVI after the ICF scheme (International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health) related to her four leaves of clover of visual functioning.

In the second phase of the project in 2011-2012, the neuropsychological assessment and IQ results were correlated with the vision test results and the completed questionnaires from the parents. The results were discussed with the parents and the teachers were subsequently informed about the conditions of the children and best learning possibilities.

The third and final phase has begun and will be completed in 2014. Meetings of teachers, parents, and children in special focus groups are on going to collect strategies and best learning examples. As we are still in the process of research, first outcomes can be presented in this Round Table of ISM.

Reference

Dutton, G.N. & Bax, M. [Hrsg.] (2010). Visual Impairment in Children Due to Damage to the Brain. London.

Contact

gertrude.jaritz@phst.at