A public agency must conduct a full and individual evaluation, before the initial provision of special education and related services to a child with a disability can be done. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether the child qualifies as a child with a disability and the nature and extent of the educational needs of the child. In conducting the evaluation, the public agency must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information about the child that may assist in determining whether the child is a child with a disability and the educational needs of the child. That information could include information from a physician, if determined appropriate, to assess the effect of the child’s visual impairment on the child’s eligibility and educational needs.  

 

When determining a child’s vision status, the LEA’s evaluation should be thorough and rigorous. Such evaluations should include a data-based media assessment, be based on a range of learning modalities (including auditory, tactile, and visual), and include a functional visual assessment. In previously-issued guidance, OSEP has noted that an assessment of a child’s vision status generally would include the nature and extent of the child’s visual impairment and its effect on the child’s ability to learn to read, write, do mathematical calculations, and use computers and other assistive technology, as well as the child’s ability to be involved in and make progress in the general curriculum offered to nondisabled students. Such an evaluation generally would be closely linked to the assessment of the child’s present and future reading and writing objectives, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media. The information obtained through the evaluation generally should be used by the eligibility team in determining whether it would be appropriate to provide a blind or visually impaired child with special education or related services as required by the IDEA. In addition, because the evaluation must assess a child’s future needs, a child’s current vision status should not necessarily determine whether it would be inappropriate for that child to receive special education and related services while in school. In California, a school district’s duty to conduct a Near and Far Vision Screening is regulated in the California Education Code.