Review article Low vision aids for visually impaired children A perception-action perspective J. Schurink a,b, *, R.F.A. Cox a,b , A.H.N. Cillessen a , G.H.M.B. van Rens c , F.N. Boonstra b a Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands b Bartime ´us Institute Zeist, The Netherlands c VU Medical Centre Amsterdam, The Netherlands Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 872 2. Preliminaries ....................................................................................... 872 2.1. Definitions and prevalence of visual impairment in children ........................................... 872 2.2. Causes and types of visual impairment in children ................................................... 873 2.3. Overview of low-vision aids ..................................................................... 873 3. Synopsis of LVA research in adults ...................................................................... 875 4. A conceptual framework for LVA use in visually impaired children ............................................ 875 4.1. Insights from adult LVA use...................................................................... 876 4.2. Brief general outline of an action perspective ....................................................... 876 4.3. Insights from tool use .......................................................................... 877 4.4. Defining the action problem in LVA use ............................................................ 877 4.4.1. Multi-phase aspects and information in LVA use.............................................. 878 4.4.2. Example analyses of LVA use ............................................................. 878 4.5. Idiosyncrasies of LVA use: Challenges for future research .............................................. 879 Research in Developmental Disabilities 32 (2011) 871–882 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 5 January 2011 Accepted 13 January 2011 Available online 12 February 2011 Keywords: Low-vision aids Visual impairment Children Perception-action Tool use Conceptual framework ABSTRACT It is a widely accepted belief in clinical practice that children with a visual impairment can profit from the use of a low vision aid (LVA). However, we found a considerable gap in our scientific understanding of LVA use, particularly in young children. This is the reason for the analysis presented in this paper. A selected overview of LVA use in adults is given, from which valuable insights are taken. Additionally, an action perspective for analysing LVA use is discussed as well as the results of tool-use studies in children. Mainly based on these three ingredients, we developed a conceptual framework for LVA use. The framework consists of three interacting relations between LVA, child and task. Performance of a particular child on a specific task with a certain LVA is constrained by the following three reciprocal and dynamic relations: the Child-to-Task relation (related to goal-information), the Child-to-LVA relation (related to control-information), and the LVA-to-Task relation (related to topology information). ß 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 0 24 3615524; fax: +31 0 24 3612698. E-mail address: j.schurink@psych.ru.nl (J. Schurink). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Research in Developmental Disabilities 0891-4222/$ – see front matter ß 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.01.027