Contrast sensitivity in children with severe visual impairment and its effect on their functional ability.

The objective was to evaluate the contrast sensitivity in children with severe visual impairment and to correlate these findings with the performance of the children in five areas of functional capability. Twenty children, age range 9-16 years of age, with severe visual impairment were included in the study. The children were divided into two groups: Nine with Visual Deprivation and eleven with Retinal Related Diseases. The children were assessed with high and low contrast visual acuity tests. Six different tests representing symbols, numbers and letters were used. Functional assessment was performed by communication, orientation and mobility, ADL (activities of daily living) and sustained near vision tasks. Their performances were graded from 1-5 in the five different areas. The visual acuity ranges were similar in both groups. A clear correlation between the two groups on clinical vision testing and functional assessment was found.