Case Study 3: Child with Albinism 

This is a case report on how to manage a patient with vision impairment and it puts the elements of the first two interactive cases into practice.


History

1) Develop fine and gross motor skills

• Improved mobility in unfamiliar environments
• Independent movements in and out of home- riding bike etc

2) Develop play skills

• Ability to sort, classify and categorise objects.

3) Increased independence with daily self-care tasks

• To commence toilet training.
• To be able to participate in helping to dress himself.

4) Develop expressive and receptive language skills

• To become more familiar with positional language.
• To be able to understand and express his emotions.

5) Develop age-appropriate social skills

• To increase his confidence and ability to interact with unfamiliar people.
• To be included and supported to fully access all learning experiences in his kinder program in 2021

1) Service Engagement support

2) Library Membership

3) A Trans-disciplinary Early Childhood Intervention Team which included:

• Primary Service Provider
• Optometrist
• Physiotherapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Early Childhood Teacher
• Orientation and Mobility Instructor.
• Speech therapist
• Paediatric counsellor
• Assistive technology specialist

1) Access to the NDIS

2) The family received support from eye care provider to understand their child’s vision condition and how best to support his vision needs at home and next year in kinder. This included a functional vision assessment and lighting assessment with recommendations in a report regarding best seating position in the kinder room, any modifications to room lighting and glare control strategies.

3) The family joined Vision Australia Felix Library which provided the family access to appropriate reading and play material for their child.

4) The family received information, strategies and support from Vision Australia services over the two years such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, paediatric counselling and early childhood specialist teacher to support their son to reach age appropriate developmental milestones in a number of areas as indicated by the goals identified above.

• Physical developments were achieved such as being able to roll from front to back and independently moving from tummy up onto hands and knees
• Was able to sit independently
• Improved daily living skills such as being able to eat finger food independently
• Able to settle himself
• Increased fine motor skills
• Increased communication, demonstrated by being able to engage in back and forth interactions with his parents

5) Vision Australia Orientation Mobility Instructor also completed an Environmental Assessment of the new preschool playground, which informed the necessary adaptations including high contrast marking to ensure the Preschool is fully inclusive so that their son could participate fully and safely in play and physical activities. The orientation and mobility instructor has also started introducing long cane skills training to the child through play.