The Optometry Department at An-Najah participated in a training workshop on assessing vision of children with multiple disabilities at the Vision Training Center (VTC) at the German Jordanian University (GJU) Vision Rehabilitation Training Center earlier this month, as part of the Tempus winning project “Curriculum & Skills Development in Vision Rehabilitation”.
The workshop was over 5 days and aimed at introducing optometrists to the various methods utilized in assessing the vision of children with multiple disabilities using assessment tools and observational techniques.
The workshop included open discussions and interactive analytical sessions on clinical cases coming to the VTC. The workshop also included a course to train optometrists on clinical decision making with a multidisciplinary team by giving recommendations and pieces of advice to parents, health care professionals and teachers involved in child’s care.
The workshop out comes will be used to produce two courses as part of the optometry programme at the university. The Optometric University clinics will also offer new clinical services for the visually impaired.
Notes:
The training workshop was supervised by trainers Helen Verbunt and Theresa Beemster from the Royal Dutch Visio, a center of expertise for partially sighted and blind people in the Netherlands.
The workshop was also attended by Dr. Liana Al-Labadi, Dr. Ithar Beshtawi, Ms. Reem Shahin, Ms. Yasmine Abdulrahman and students Waad Abu Ghayatha in addition to optometrists who work in academic institutions and rehabilitation centers including the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR), the GJU Vision rehabilitation Center and the Jordan University.
