Vision in OT Practice: facilitator notes

Presenter cues

• Open by asking the room how many referrals last year said "reverses letters" or "poor tracking." That phrase is where the module lives.
• Anchor scope early: OTs measure occupational performance under visual demand; eye care providers diagnose the eye and prescribe optical correction. Both are licensed, independent judgments.
• Make the point that referring out is not deferring — you refer in parallel and keep your own plan running.
• Read the referral triggers slide slowly. This is the safety slide of the whole course.

Answer key

Which of those three observations is OT-reportable as written?

Only the working distance (15 cm) is a directly recorded, objective performance observation. Squinting is observable but should be documented as a behavior under a stated condition ("squints when copying from the board at 3 m"), not as evidence of a refractive problem. The headache is self-report — record it verbatim in the student’s words and route it to eye care.

What is the one sentence you send to the family, and what do you not name?

Model sentence: "During classroom observation and OT screening, [student] worked at 15 cm from near materials, squinted during board-copy tasks, and reported headaches after sustained reading; we recommend an eye examination and are sharing our observations with your provider." You do not name convergence insufficiency, accommodative dysfunction, tracking disorder, or any refractive condition, and you do not recommend lenses, prism, or vision therapy.

Examples to read aloud

• Weak: "Poor visual tracking noted." Strong: "Lost place 7 times in a 120-word passage, requiring 3 adult prompts to resume."

Watch-outs

• Someone will ask if they can say "convergence insufficiency" because the eye doctor already diagnosed it. Answer: you may quote a documented diagnosis with attribution ("per Dr. X’s report dated ..."), but you never generate it.
• Another will ask about ordering red/green glasses. Reframe: anaglyph materials are activity media inside an OT plan, not an optical prescription.