Throughout the school years, it is important to document pupils' literacy achievement and to record the decisions that are made by the team around the child that relate to learning media. Some teachers of pupils with visual impairments have a standard process for this documentation but others may find that Form 1 can assist with this record keeping.
Form 1 is used to summarise the point the pupil has reached in the LMA process and to indicate the depth and location of relevant information already available from medical and educational sources.
It is not necessary to include detailed information about the child's visual condition or performance on this form since this information will be located elsewhere. The Form is designed simply to provide a snapshot of the depth, quality and currency of the information that has been accumulated and that is available at the point of the assessment. In this way, the pupil's educational team will be pointed to relevant information that will be important in decision making.
Form 1 should be completed by the pupil's Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (QTVI). Since the purpose of this form is documentation of information, it can be completed prior to or during the completion of the Learning Media Assessment process but the information contained in this form is important in various stages of LMA.
A new Form 1 should be completed yearly or each time a new LMA is completed. As with all educational documentation, the information included on Form 1 should be stored and treated as confidential.
In and of itself, Form 1 does not contain information sufficient to make decisions regarding a pupil's learning media. The interpretation of documentation contained in this form will relate to determining if a pupil's medical, academic and literacy documentation is sufficient and current.
If, for example, during the completion of Form 1 the QTVI and educational team determine that medical information is out of date, they will probably want to remedy that by having the pupil seen by an ophthalmologist or optometrist prior to completion of the LMA to ensure that decisions are being made on current data.