Insights Into the Support Services for Students With Vision Impairment

Abstract

There is a general need for research in Australia on whether the support services provided in schools prove useful for students with disabilities (Datta, 2015; O’Rourke & Houghton, 2006), especially students with vision impairment. This qualitative study aimed to provide insights into the influence of the support services delivered in South Australian schools for students with vision impairments’ problem-solving skills, and their family, social, and academic lives. Semistructured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 14 students with vision impairment (8 adolescents and 6 adults), 5 parents, and 4 teachers. Participating students’ age ranged between 15 and 18 years for the adolescent students and between 19 and 25 years for the adult students. Adolescent students were enrolled in mainstream and specialist secondary schools, and adult students were enrolled in vocational courses at TAFE Institutes. The data reflected a range of viewpoints from which to examine the problem under investigation. The interview responses from the 3 groups of participants revealed that the support services positively influenced students’ problem-solving skills, their social behaviour, and their academic learning. Although most students with vision impairment felt that the support services had no influence on their family relationships, their parents and teachers considered it had helped in the students’ family lives. The interviews were particularly useful in evaluating the support services that students with vision impairment received. These findings have implications for teachers, special educators, policymakers, and a range of professionals in the education and special education sector in highlighting modifications and improvements in the support services for these students. This study has provided a limited basis for generalising to any wider population beyond the participants themselves due to the study's small sample size and diversity of educational settings.

School experience of the child and adolescent with visual impairment: family experience

“…Research carried out in Australia, with 14 students with VI, five parents and four teachers, who aimed to observe the impact of the support services provided to students with VI, such as access to assistive technology and an expanded curriculum, affirm that these strategies are essential for solving academic problems. Moreover, students presented better school performance and social relationships with improved confidence, improved communication and body language (14) . Support and provision of expanded material is essential for people with VI, because in the absence of such resources, they do not have the same learning opportunities.…”

“…It was possible to perceive, from the narratives, that children and adolescents with VI may be resistant to using the support resources. The fact that some students with VI refuse to receive the support service in the school environment is justified because they feel uncomfortable, different and dependent on normovisual colleagues (14) .…”

Social support for students with visual impairments in educational institutions: An integrative literature review

“…The students and staff members reported a low rate of service use (37%), which they attributed to problems with the way the service functioned. In contrast, a study conducted in Australia revealed that the school's support services helped the adolescent students with visual impairments to face daily problems and cope with social situations (Datta & Palmer, 2015).…”

“…Social support provided by staff members. Two studies examined the impact of social support from staff members on the academic learning of students with visual impairments (Bodaghi et al, 2016;Datta & Palmer, 2015). In Bodaghi et al's study (2016) the university students reported that they felt uncomfortable asking for further assistance from librarians, because of the lack of a written policy concerning the issue of social support.…”

“…Social support provided by staff members. A number of studies investigated the impact of the social support provided by staff members on the socioemotional development of students with visual impairments across a variety of educational institutions (Bodaghi et al, 2016;Bodaghi et al, 2017;Datta & Palmer, 2015;Manyumwa, 2018;West et al, 2004; for further information regarding these studies see Table 1). West et al (2004) explored the perspectives of adolescents, who had attended elementary special schools in Singapore, regarding their inclusion in the secondary mainstream schools that they were attending at the time of the study.…”