Low vision children development assessment

Operated Portage Inventory preliminary adaptation

Abstract

The adaptation of instruments to assess the development of children with visual impairment is essential to ensure the quality and reliability of surveying the skills and competences of these children. Regarding low vision, it is necessary to pay attention to the different degrees of visual impairment to propose viable alternatives for adaptation and application. The Operationalized Portage Inventory (IPO) adapted for Brazil consists of 580 items and assesses the development of children aged 0 to 6 years and was organized into six areas: Child Stimulation; Socialization; Cognition; Language; Self-care and Motor Development. Given this context, the objective of this work was to present the initial procedure for adapting the IPO, especially for the Material and Condition components that make up each item of the instrument. The adaptation of the IPO analyzed the components: material, condition, criteria and response. A committee of three experts examined all items and proposed changes to 248 items for application in children with good low vision. The adaptations were intended to add materials with high contrast and bright colors, toys that produce sound and books with adapted pictures. The general instructions have been extensively reworded to provide specific application guidelines. Instructions were rewritten to include description of environmental conditions, location and distance of objects, and observation of the visual behavior of children with low vision. The modifications constitute the initial stage of the IPO adaptation, aiming to offer an instrument for evaluating the development of this population.