For babies and young children with severe vision impairment (OPTIMUM VI research project)
Research commissioned by RNIB, Fight for Sight and GOSH Children’s Charity carried out by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH) has found evidence that early intervention using the Developmental Journal for babies and children with Vision Impairment in a structured way leads to better developmental outcomes for babies and young children with VI.
Key findings from the research
- Overall, babies and young children whose support from practitioners was home-based and using the DJVI in a structured way, made greater improvements over the 24 months than those who received ‘other’ home-based early interventions
- Children with vision impairment only, and no known brain difference in their diagnosis who had received a programme of structured support using the DJVI had significantly lower scores in behavioural withdrawal at the end of 24 months compared to those in the ‘other support’ group
- Parents of children in the DJVI group showed significantly lower levels of parenting-related stress compared to parents of children receiving other types of support
- DJVI group parents showed significantly higher levels of satisfaction in the parent-practitioner relationship compared to the ‘other support’ group parents
- Greater improvements in cognition and language were also found in the DJVI group, although the differences between the DJVI and ‘other support’ group did not reach statistical significance