Low-vision students get help to see brighter future

Project Magnify outfits children with free optical aids

Surrounded by her grandparents, doctors and teachers, 6-year-old Kelsi Crumpton sat before an illuminated eye chart.

"R-H-S-D-K," Kelsi's thin voice filled the dim room.

Earlier vision exams said she should be learning braille. But when June Pierce met the first-grade student at Clinton Elementary School, the girl's agility impressed her.

"She walked over and got her book, no problem," Pierce said, a graceful feat for a child who is legally blind. And Pierce, a teacher with the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind, realized Kelsi would make a good candidate for Project Magnify.

The initiative, led by the school, outfits visually impaired students with free optical aids, such as magnifying line guides and telescopic devices, a departure from

South Carolina's traditional classroom solution of giving large-print books to low-vision children.

"It's so simple," said Jeanie Farmer, Vision Instruction coordinator for the school. She has seen parents cry when they realize their children can see letters and read. "It's a question of getting quality medical care," she said.

A 2005-06 study conducted by the Feldberg Center for Vision Rehabilitation, part of the Medical University of South Carolina Storm Eye Institute, and the S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind found that optical aids work better than large-print materials, improving reading rate and comprehension.

Among students who used the devices in the study, all increased their reading rate, about half increased their reading comprehension and most decreased the reading font size required to see the text.

"The results were amazing, absolutely profound," Farmer said.

Those who did not receive devices and used large-print books in the study continued to read at their respective font size. No one increased reading comprehension and only a few increased their reading rate.

Based on the study's success, the S.C. Department of Education agreed to fund Project Magnify, which also provides classroom training in the use of the devices.

The results did not come as a surprise to Farmer, however. She trained in Tennessee, where a similar project had great results, she said.

Kelsi's grandparents, who are raising her, drove three hours from Clinton for the exam and fitting last week.

Dr. Stephen Morse, who co- authored the study with Farmer, tested Kelsi's vision and found her sight was 20/400 in her right eye, which was four times better than her last eye exam.

Morse attributed the difference to Kelsi's good response to the high-contrast tests he used, which are consistent with what she will see when reading. "The other measure is more real world," he said.

She can't see out of her left eye, despite trying to peek through the side of her eye patch during Morse's test. Morse often sees young children compensate however they can, that's how they get by day to day, he said.

"It's OK if you can't see it. Just say," said Kelsi's grandmother, Dawn Dunaway.

If a person has vision worse than 20/200 that cannot be corrected with lenses, they are considered legally blind. Someone with 20/400 vision sees at 20 feet what a normal-vision person sees at 400 feet.

But a lot more plays into vision than acuity numbers: peripheral vision, depth perception, eye coordination, color vision and ability to focus.

That's why a single answer — large-print books — to complex vision problems doesn't make much sense, Morse said.

"Large print may be fine for one visually impaired student but significantly too small for another and way too big for yet a third," Farmer said.

The cost of providing a student with a set of large-print books each year is about $2,750, compared with $130 for an exam and about $200 for a visual device they can use at home and at school. These are tools they can take to college.

So far, 19 students in 11 South Carolina school districts have demonstrated tremendous gains in reading abilities and greater independence, Farmer said. Thirty students will participate in Project Magnify during the 2007-08 school year.

Kelsi was fitted for a telescopic monocular to see far away and a line guide magnifier to read up close. "She doesn't let her vision stop her from doing anything," Dunaway said.

Kelsi pumped her legs under her chair, the pink flowers on her tennis shoes lighting up with each tap on the floor. "Can we go now? Everybody's talking about me," she said.

Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.