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environment factors as food, general health, sunlight, fresh air, climate, emotions and physical exertion.
There are two kinds of physically exceptional, for instance: a. Visual impairment.
1 Low vision: visual activity between 2070 and 20200 in the better eye after correction.
2 Blindness: visual activity at 20200 or less in the better eye with correction, or visual activity of more than 20200 if the
widest diameter of the field of vision subtends an angle of the field of vision subtends an angle no grater than 20
degree.
b. Hearing Impairment. 1 Deafness: absence of hearing in both ears and a hearing
disability that prevents understanding of speech with or without a hearing aid.
2 Hardness of hearing: significant difficulty in understanding speech, even when equipped with a hearing aid.
3 Speech impairment: a disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, or a language or voice impairment that
adversely affects educational performance. c. Emotionally Exceptional.
Emotionally exceptional is elated with personality development, which is influenced by genetic factors as well as
by attitudes and social relationship both in the home and outside.
d. Multi Handicaps Exceptional. The children who have more than one defect given above.
G. The Concept of Visual impairment.
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Hallahan and Kauffman 1994: 344 state that there are two definitions of visual impairment; those are based on legal an educational.
Legal definition depends on the measurement of visual acuity and field of vision. A person who is legally blind has visual acuity of 202000 or
less in better eye, even with correction, or has very narrow less than 20 degreesfield of vision. Educators, however, prefer to define blindness
according to how well the person functions, especially in reading. For educator, blindness indicates the need to read Braille or use oral
methods. There are two kinds of visual impairment; those are:
1. Low vision: visual activity between 2070 and 20200 in the better eye after correction.
2. Blindness: visual activity at 20200 or less in the better eye with correction, or visual activity of more than 20200 if the widest
diameter of the field of vision subtends an angle of the field of vision subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees.
So, based on the definition above, the writer concludes that there are two kinds of visual impairment that are low visions and blindness.
Their difference is on the visual acuity.
H. The Cause of Visual Impairment.
The cause of visual impairment is various. There is visual impairment that a person had brought since he or she was born and also
there is visual impairment that happens when he or she is adult. Hallahan and Kauffman 1994: 546 state that” the most common visual
problems are the result of errors of refraction. Myopia nearsightedness, hyperopia farsightedness and astigmatism blurred
vision are all examples of refraction errors that affect central visual acuity”.
The cause of visual impairment is divided into 2; internal and external, such as:
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2. Internal Factors. Internal factor is the cause of handicapped that commonly
come from themselves. The marriage between a family can cause the children born with visual impairment. There is gen recessive
that does not appear to parent can appear in children. 3. External Factor.
The visual impairment can be caused by some diseases such as lack of nutrition that is needed when pregnant, lack of vitamin A,
diabetes mellitus, stroke, blood high pressure, effect of chemical and accidents.
The abilities of eyes to see can not be predicted at the babies’ birth, but if there are eye problems that develop continuously the problem can
be predicted. According to Hallahan and Kauffman 1994: 347, there are some sign indicating possible eye problems those are:
a. Behaviors. -
Rubs eyes excessively. -
Shuts or covers one eye, tilt head, or thrust head forward. -
Has difficulty in reading on in other work requiring close use of the eyes.
- Blinks more than usually or is irritable when doing close work.
- Holds book close to eyes.
- Unable to see distant things clearly.
- Squints eyelids together of frown.
b. Appearance. -
Crossed eyes.
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- Red-rimmed, encrusted or swollen eyelids.
- Inflamed or watery eyes.
- Recurring styles.
c. Complaints. -
Eyes itch, burn, or feel scratchy. -
Cannot see well. -
Dizziness, headaches, or nausea following close eye work. -
Blurred or double vision.
I.
The Characteristics of Children with Visual Impairment.
People have different characteristics, like children with visual impairment; they have characteristic that are different from children who
have normal vision. Children with visual impairment generally are suspicious to others, sensitive, depending on something, blindism,
unpretentious, like to daydream, have strong imaginations, critical, and courageous.
There are another characteristic for children with visual impairment on their psychological and behavioral based on Hallan and
Kauffman 1994:349, those are: 1. Language Development.
Most people believe that lack of vision does not alter very significantly the ability to understand and use language. They point
many studies which show that students who are visualy impaired do not differ from sighted student on verbal intelligence test.
Because auditory more than visual perception is the sensory modality through which we learn language, it is not surprising that
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studies have found people who are blind to be unimpaired in language functioning. The child who is blind is still able to hear
language and may even be more motivated than the sighted child to use language because it is the main channel through which he or
she communicates with others.
2. Intellectual Ability. a. Performance on standardized intelligence tests.
There is no reason to believe that individually with visual impairment result in lower intelligence. There are kind of test
would be a more accurate measure of intelligence than tests that contained items of a visual nature. Several intelligence tests that
emphasize these nonverbal areas are now available in a few countries, namely; Blind Learning Aptitude Tests Newland,
1979 and intelligence tests for visually impaired children Dekker, Drent, Zoal, 1991; Dekker, Zoal, Koole, 1990.
b. Conceptual abilities. Some important differences exist between how those with a
without sight perceive the world, most of which are due to the difference between tactual and visual experiences. Persons who
are blind more non tactual and auditory information to learn about world than to the sighted, who obtain a great deal of
information through sight. According to Hull 1990 in Hallan 1994:367, a person who is blind described it, he “sees” with his
fingers. c. Mobility.
A very important ability for the successful adjustment of many people with visual impairment is their mobility-their skill
in moving about their environment. Mobility skills depend to a
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great extent on spatial ability. Mobility skills vary greatly among people with visual impairment. A critical variable appears to be
motivation, and some authorities have noted that those who have more residual vision and those who become frustrated by their
loss of vision and less motivated to acquire mobility skills. d. Academic Achievement.
The academic achievement of students who are blind with sighted students must be interpreted cautiously because the two
groups must be tested under different conditions. Compared with student who are hearing impaired is not as adversely affected.
e. Social Adjustment. An important point to keep in mind is that even though
people with visual impairment differ from the sighted in how they interact socially, this does not mean that they are socially
maladjusted. It does mean, however, that initial interactions between sighted and those without sight may be strained.
Another important point is that it should not only be up those who are visually impaired to change their ways of interacting
socially.
J. The Education for Students with Visual Impairment
