Providing Access to the Visual Environment

Providing Access to the Visual Environment is a pediatric low vision grant which has the ability to provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary low vision rehabilitation services to every child in Tennessee with a vision impairment. Children, ages 3-21, with best-corrected vision of 20/50 or worse in the better seeing eye are prescribed optical devices to improve their visual functioning and trained to use the devices.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Vision Impairment

Detailed Description

Subjects are enrolled each school year based on referrals from school systems in Tennessee, ophthalmologists, and optometrists. A total of 90 new students are enrolled each year. Students are provided a comprehensive low vision rehabilitation evaluation by a low vision optometrist and prescribed optical devices to improve distance appreciation, near reading, and other tasks based on individual needs. Students are then trained to use the devices efficiently by master's level teachers of the visually impaired. The teachers travel to the students environment (school/home/work) for the training.

Variables such as ocular disease, age, visual acuity, visual improvement with optical devices, type of optical device, and reading speed are defined for each student. Providing Access to the Visual Environment also provides...

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 795

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Lori Ann F Kehler, O.D.; Phone Number: 615-936-2020; Email: lori.ann.kehler@Vanderbilt.Edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Saige Wilkins, CTS; Phone Number: 615-936-1474; Email: saige.wilkins@vumc.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37232
      • Recruiting
      • Saige Wilkins
      • Contact: Saige A Wilkins, CTS; Phone Number: 615-936-1474; Email: saige.wilkins@vumc.org
      • Contact: Lori Ann Kehler, O.D.; Phone Number: 615-936-2020; Email: lori.ann.kehler@Vanderbilt.Edu
      • Principal Investigator: Lori Ann Kehler, O.D

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 21 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Children age 3 to 21 years of age, enrolled in a TN school, with visual impairment

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Children age 3 to 21 years of age Enrollment in a school in Tennessee (private or public)

- Children that are eligible for services due to visual impairment Low vision

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children who do not have the potential to become readers or use their vision for reading

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Success to utilize optical devices	Training with external optical devices to improve visual outcome	3-4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University
• Collaborators: Tennessee Department of Education
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lori Ann Kehler, O.D., Vanderbilt Eye Institute

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2001
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 20, 2006
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 20, 2006
• First Posted (Estimated): June 21, 2006

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): June 16, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 14, 2023
• Last Verified: June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Vision; Aids
• Other Study ID Numbers: 7633