Visual Impairment among Children from Birth to Age Five

Abstract

The prevalence was assessed of multiply impaired neonates and multiply impaired children of preschool age with concomitant visual impairments in the New York City metropolitan area. Twenty-two hospitals were surveyed. Approximately .33 percent of the children born at these hospitals were diagnosed and classified as multiply impaired. Of these, 44 percent had visual impairments. Forty-nine preschool programs for the multihandicapped were also surveyed. Many of the children in these programs had not been registered as visually impaired, but instead had been classified according to their other disabilities. Of the preschool population, 9.3 percent were multiply impaired, with one of the impairments being a visual disability, and an additional .8 percent were identified as being visually impaired alone.