The Liverpool Visual Assessment Team: 10 years' experience

Abstract

The Liverpool Visual Assessment Team (VAT) was established in 1975 as a multidisciplinary service for the evaluation of the disabilities of visually handicapped children. Team membership and patterns of practice are described. Two hundred and fifty-four children have now been seen by the VAT over a 10-year period. The mean age of referral was 4.2 years; only 46% of the children had an isolated visual handicap. The aetiology of disabilities was known in 58% of the children. Genetically determined visual handicap was likely to be associated with normal intelligence. Ophthalmological diagnoses are described. In comparison to what would be predicted, there were fewer children with retinopathy of prematurity and more with cerebral (cortical) blindness. The educational needs and placements of the children are described and the implications of the implementation of the 1981 Education Act for visually handicapped children are discussed.

The Teddy Bear Hospital in Australia

“…2 Such congenital infections lead to cardiac, haematological, and neurological dysfunctions rather than arthralgia, and are fatal if no treated. Cutaneous manifestations of chikungunya such as erythema, pigmentation, vesiculo-bullous eruptions and desquamating skin lesions have also been described in patients with chickungunya.…”

Multidisciplinary teams and childhood visual impairment: a study of two teams

“…Miiltidisciplinary teams can be described and evaluated in terms of the following: aims and fionctions, membership, leadership, benefits and problems. Fionctions have been variously given as promoting early referral of children, co-ordination of care, monitoring progress and providing advice on educational placement (Hunt et al 1975;Morse 1983;Hill et al 1986).…”

“…Membership of the multidisciplinary team is an important consideration. Two models are: firstly, teams which have a small core membership of three or four supplemented by other professionals as becomes necessary (Hill et al 1986); secondly, teams which have a larger membership of eight or more (Jan & Robinson 1989). McKendrick (1991) conducted a brief study of multidisciplinary teams and recommended that the 'ideal multidisciplinary team' shoiild consist of a small stable core group of 'a paediatrician, education psychologist, and advisory teacher for the handicapped'.…”

“…Ophthalmologists are included in some teams (Wilson 1973J Jan & Robinson 1989, but not in others (Hill et al 1986;McKendrick 1991). The disadvantage of not including an ophthalmologist is a lack of spedfic ophthalmic advice diiring team discussions and consultations (Hill et al 1986).…”

Visual impairment in Nordic children

“…The male dominance has been described as bias (Hill et al 1986). It has been considered that the data could be influenced by social factors favouring education and registration of boys (Schappert-Kmijser 1975;Lindstedt 1975).…”