CVI Parents, does your child benefit from the use of the CVI Range assessment? Does your child’s team rely on the CVI Range in an early intervention or educational setting? Does the CVI Range help the adults in your child’s life understand his/her vision better? Does your child require the CVI Range in order to have visual access to the curriculum? Does your child with CVI require the CVI Range in order to receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)? Mine does. Continue reading “Call to action: assault on children with CVI”
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When your child is diagnosed with cortical visual impairment (CVI), you cannot help but ask, What does my child see? As a parent it was hard to even wrap my brain around the words “cortical visual impairment” – or “cortical blindness” – the first time the neurologist said them. Along with cortical blindness came other misinformation such as “color perception is usually intact” and “because it involves the brain and not the eye, there is nothing you can do.” Some people like to say that having CVI is like looking through a slice of Swiss cheese (visual fields, Roman), which does not fly because the eyes work together to create the image in your brain and those gaps get filled in. Others claim that the world appears pixellated to people who have CVI, except that the brain is not a computer. It is far easier to simulate an ocular impairment – such as the grossly distorted world of somebody with myopia. Or the blacked out central vision of a person with progressive macular degeneration. But what does a child with CVI see? Continue reading ““What does my child with CVI see?””
Introducing the Start Seeing CVI tote! Raise awareness of the leading cause of visual impairment in children, cortical visual impairment (CVI), everywhere you go. Totes can be ordered on an ongoing basis, but are only printed on demand, so be sure to allow plenty of time for processing and shipping. Continue reading “Start Seeing CVI tote!”
Below is a conversation around the topic of behaviors, coping mechanisms, and sensory regulation. This was an exchange with our occupational therapist (OT) that helped deepen my understanding of my son, who has cortical visual impairment (CVI). Other parents might find this conversation useful too. Our kids with CVI have inherent sensory processing differences, and as a parent, it can be difficult to discriminate the CVI from the sensory processing. Continue reading “Speaking of CVI, behavior and sensory regulation”
On an unhurried summer day, at last, we stopped at a favorite playground. For my son who has cortical visual impairment (CVI), favorite playground means ample tree shade (photosensitive, though he won’t always admit it). It also means a good selection of slides, such as “curly slide.” Slides have been his preferred playground play for some time. Slides are downhill, his favorite. Slides are fairly easy, once you figure out how to navigate to the top, which is not always accessible or obvious to a child with CVI. Ladder can look like lots of different things. Continue reading “Waiting to play”
