VIDBE-Q Volume 66, Issue 2
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and procedures. By initially surveying teachers about their practices, we confirmed
that there was little agreement about what should be included in an FVA. We were
encouraged that more than 85% of the teachers reported that they assess near visual
acuity, distance visual acuity, peripheral visual fields, tracking, and color
perception (Kaiser & Herzberg, 2017). However, there was less agreement in other
areas, such as referrals for orientation and mobility (O&M) or clinical low vision
evaluations. Next, we asked TSVIs to share a copy of the tools that they use for
data collection in the FVA process. We compared these tools with the list of 23
components often used in the field by Erin and Paul (1996) and D'Andrea and
Farrenkopf (2000). Content across the tools varied greatly. Slightly more than 50%
of the tools included information about ocular conditions or interviews (Kaiser &
Herzberg, 2021). In addition, less than 25% of the data collection tools included a
screening about the possible need for an O&M evaluation and clinical low vision
evaluation (Kaiser & Herzberg, 2021).
In order to promote consistency, we designed a Delphi study to collect
information and build consensus among university personnel and TSVIs (See
Kaiser et al., 2020). A Delphi study is a research method where groups of experts
provide feedback and explore divergent opinions (Hsu & Sandford, 2007). This
method uses multiple rounds of responses until a minimum level of consensus is
