September is CVI Awareness month. CVI is a brain based visual impairment, that means it’s a problem with the brain, not the eyes. CVI is about visual interpretation and visual recognition, it is not about acuity (Mazel). People with CVI see what we see, but they cannot interpret it (Roman). CVI is the leading cause of visual impairment in children. And it has been since the 1990s. Continue reading “It is time to catch up with children who have CVI”
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Back to school this year resembles last year. Last year’s cross country move meant months-long preparation and purging. This year’s move came quick, with little notice in the midst of an already busy summer. Last year was a new town, state, side of the country, new school, peers, teachers, all new people. This year it’s the same school with a few new peers, new teacher, new classroom. The only constant in life is change. As usual with change comes reflection. Instead of back to school or change or growing up or growing older, this reflection is about a yellow towel. Continue reading “The yellow towel”
It should surprise no one that with movies, my son with cortical visual impairment (CVI) loves to watch the same familiar titles over and over (Novelty). Harry Potter but only Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, on repeat. The original Toy Story. Finding Nemo was one of the first movies we watched intentionally, by now we have seen it countless times. Marlin explaining his son Nemo on the Big Screen – “He was born with a short fin” – is a giant mirror. Every time, it is a reflection, and I hear myself describing my son’s disability. More importantly, it is a reflection on the language I use when talking to Jasper.
Continue reading “Finding Nemo”
Summertime is a time to unwind, reset. After the end of another busy school year, it’s a time for vacation, day trips, road trips, or maybe it is simply welcome relief from the usual grind. Summer, with its unstructured days, can also be a time to get wound up. Regardless of your summer plans, no matter how blue the sky or how pleasant the weather, for children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) summer is a time of transition. Continue reading “Summer Time”
That feeling you get when taking your child with cortical visual impairment (CVI) to any place new and unfamiliar and leaving him and feeling like you have dropped him into the CVI abyss. Continue reading “CVI Abyss”
