Reasonable adjustments are changes that your school or family makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage because of your neurodivergent needs around routine and change. You can ask for reasonable adjustments to be made.
Reasonable Adjustments for an eye test
It’s possible to make reasonable adjustments to the eye test to make it accessible for children with learning disabilities. Many of these adjustments take place prior to the child arriving in the opticians or eye clinic. To have the best chance of a successful visit, it is helpful to highlight the child’s additional needs before the day of the appointment.
Examples of reasonable adjustments include:
- Visiting the practice or hospital before the day of the eye test to aid familiarisation with the rooms
- Arranging the appointment during a quieter time of day to minimise waiting time or at a time of day that is best for the child
- Carrying out the tests from a wheelchair – you may need to check access and the size of rooms at high street practices before going
- Using a range of tests to check vision, e.g. Kay Pictures, Cardiff Cards, Keeler Cards or using the Bradford Visual Function Box
- Conducting the tests over more than one visit if concentration is a problem or the child tires easily
- Simply explaining to the child what will happen or demonstrating the test on parent/carer first for children who are anxious.
Wearing Glasses with sensory difficulties
- Try ultralight, flexible glasses. These weigh far less than regular glasses and can be twisted and bent without breaking.
- Try an elastic strap to hold glasses on. The extra pressure against the head might be comforting to the child as well.
- Some children will pull glasses off when the frames get a little bent so check to see if they are still in shape or need adjusting.
- If the child usually wears hearing aids, it is important to take these to the appointment so glasses can be fitted correctly around them.
The Glasses Fairy and other books
What do you do if your child has glasses but won’t wear them? If your child is one of those who doesn’t wear their glasses, you need to meet the Glasses fairy. The Glasses Fairy rewards children who wear their glasses…. read the enchanting story and following the evidence based guide at the back and before you know it your child will be wearing their glasses. A fun and practical way of engaging children, based on many years of experience and good psychological principles.
Reasonable adjustments for a hearing test
In practice an experienced paediatric audiologist should be able to assess the hearing of all children from birth. Every child is different but often the most challenging and time-consuming activity is to introduce the hearing tests in a way that reduces anxiety and establishes trust.
It may be necessary for some children to get used to the audiologist, clinic and procedures very gradually, including getting used to having their ears touched, etc. Sometimes this can mean a series of different types of tests, over a period of time, in order to build up an accurate picture of their hearing. Before your child’s first appointment, it can be helpful to talk to the audiologist about what you can expect so that you can help prepare your child.
You can also practice playing simple games with your child to help them prepare for a hearing test. Playing these games teaches your child to wait and listen for a sound and then perform an action. If your child does well with a particular toy at home, you could take it with you to the clinic.
Choose a toy that your child enjoys and that they can perform an action with. This could be dropping balls into a bucket, building a tower of blocks, or hitting a drum, etc:
- Put the toys in front of your child
- Instruct your child to ‘wait’ and ‘listen’ until you make a sound such as a clap, bang a drum, or say “go”
- Show them the action you want them to do when they hear the sound (such as moving their hand with the ball to drop it in the bucket) and keep repeating the sound and action together until they do the action on their own.
- Repeat until your child waits, listens and performs the action in response to each sound you make.
If they do this well, you can try this game sitting or standing behind them so they cannot see you make the noise. You can also try making the sounds louder or quieter.
Wearing hearing aids
When a child first starts wearing hearing aids, it’s important they wear them regularly. This allows your child to get used to them, and you and the audiologist to see how much they’re helping. Here are some tips from parents about how to get children to wear their hearing aids.
- Make sure the hearing aids are comfortable and secure
- Slowly build up the length of time your child wears their hearing aids- If necessary, start with getting your child to wear their hearing aids for a couple of minutes several times a day, building up the time gradually. If your child keeps taking them out, try again later when you’re both more relaxed. Remember to try to make it a positive experience.
- Make wearing hearing aids processors part of a routine
- Make the hearing aids appealing to your child- Hearing aids and cochlear implants are available in different colours and you can also decorate them.
- Use distraction techniques when putting the hearing aids in such as a favourite toy or the TV
- Let your child see other hearing aid users
- Offer rewards for wearing hearing aids such as a sticker chart
Book ideas
Hearing tests types
Newborn hearing screening
Hearing tests for older babies and children
- Visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA)
- Play audiometry
- Pure tone audiometry
- Bone conduction test
- Tympanometry
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hearing-tests-children/
Vision tests types
Several tests may be carried out to check for vision or eye problems in babies and children.
- The red reflex test
- The pupil reflex test
- Attention to visual objects
- Snellen and LogMAR charts
- Range of movement tests
- Refraction test
- Colour vision deficiency tests