A new school year. Substitute teachers. The new student in class. An unexpected fire drill and, God forbid, the lockdown drill. A different para today. Meeting a new provider for a new therapy appointment. For children with cortical visual impairment (CVI), a typical day is a long day of constant change. We are all familiar with Heraclitus’ quote: “Change is the only constant in life.” For a child with CVI, when we talk about change, we are talking about novelty (Roman). Continue reading “Change is hard”
Category: novelty
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”
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”
“Wait – what??” you might be thinking. It’s only April. It’s only just now turning to spring. The return of warmer weather. Trees and flowers blooming, longer and brighter days ahead. School is still in session. Maybe you haven’t even had your IEP meeting for your child with cortical visual impairment (CVI). Or maybe you are still struggling through this school year, let alone ready to get ready for the next one. Or maybe every morning you wake up to, “Do I have to go to school?” “Can I stay home, just today??” (A thousand times, no.) It might still be April, but it is not too early to start thinking about back to school. Continue reading “Back to school in April”
Moving is hard. Yesterday was about learning what a Great Big Deal the CVI characteristic of novelty still is for my son who has cortical visual impairment (CVI). After driving across the country, itself an exercise in novelty, among many other things, our belongings arrived in a small portion of a vast shipping container. Prior to its arrival, we talked about having our “stuff” again. For several days, we occupied our new home with limited possessions and no furniture. It was the perfect low complexity environment for a child in Phase III CVI to learn about and explore a new living space. Continue reading “Novelty is a Great Big Deal (moving with your child who has CVI)”
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