3:80. Where the balance of the evidence presented to and assessed by the LEA suggests that the child's learning difficulties and/or disabilities:

- are significant and/or complex

- have not been met by relevant and purposeful measures taken by the school and external specialists, and

- may call for special educational provision which cannot reasonably be provided within the resources normally available to mainstream schools in the area

the LEA should consider very carefully the case for a statutory assessment of the child's special educational needs.


Sensory impairment: visual difficulties

3:81. Visual difficulties take many forms with widely differing implications for a child's education.  They range from relatively minor and remediable conditions to total blindness.  Some children are born blind; others lose their sight, partially or completely, as a result of accidents or illness.  In some cases visual impairment is one aspect of multiple disability.  Whatever the cause of the child's visual impairment, the major issue in identifying and assessing the child's special educational needs will relate to the degree and nature of functional vision, partial sight or blindness, and the child's ability to adapt socially and psychologically as well as to progress in an educational context.

The child's learning difficulty/disability

3:82. The LEA should seek clear recorded evidence of both the child's academic attainment and the nature of his or her visual difficulty, asking, for example, whether:

i. there is a significant discrepancy between the child's attainment, as measured by National Curriculum assessments and tests, and teachers' own recorded assessments of a child's classroom work, including any portfolio of the child's work, and the attainment of the majority of children of his or her age

ii. there is a significant discrepancy between the expectations of the child as assessed by the child's teachers, parents and external specialists who have closely observed the child, supported, as appropriate, by the results of standardised tests of cognitive ability, and the child's attainment as measured by National Curriculum assessments and tests

iii. there is clear recorded evidence of the extent of the child's visual difficulty, in the form
       of assessments of the level of the child's functional vision

iv.    there is clear recorded evidence that the child's visual difficulty significantly impairs his or her mobility, emotional or social development, access to the curriculum, ability to take part in particular classroom activities or participation in aspects of school life