Increasing awareness of cortical visual impairment (CVI), the leading cause of visual impairment in children
* Guest blog post by Judy Endicott
When helping my grandson, River, who is almost nine, I know it is critical to use his CVI Range score (Roman-Lantzy), late Phase II, and information about his CVI characteristics as my guide to modifying his literacy materials. I always remind myself that what I can see and understand is different from what River “sees” and understands. Continue reading “CVI literacy, adapting books and text”
Guest blog post by Peggy Palmer, TVI*
This week I arrived at a school just as Justine, a beautiful little four year old girl, was getting off her bus. Justine was recently diagnosed with cortical visual impairment (CVI) and is in Phase III on the CVI Range (Roman-Lantzy). She has some gross motor challenges and is verbal but with limited expressive language. Continue reading “CVI literacy when we least expect it”
“CVI parents are the busiest parents I know,” Christine Roman says this often. Now, CVI moms are busy working on CVI advocacy. Next up is a national phone call – initiated by a CVI mom – to begin a conversation on improving education and services for our kids with cortical visual impairment (CVI), the leading cause of visual impairment in children in the US.
There is a disservice when it comes to serving students with cortical visual impairment. Our children are denied equal access to appropriate assessments, interventions and services and they deserve better. Join us to begin a conversation about CVI advocacy and improving education and services for our kids.
CVI parents, we need your voices – please join us on the evening of Wednesday, March 14, 5:30 PDT / 8:30 EDT.
Special thanks to American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) for sponsoring this national conversation. Panelists, including CVI parents, will be announced soon.
Click for details CVI Advocacy National Teleconference Call
Wednesday Evening, March 14, 2018
5:30pm Pacific / 8:30pm Eastern
To join this free call:
Dial: 1-866-939-3921
Code: 46438061
My son is visually impaired. Learning to say those words was hard. These days I am more likely to say, My son has a cortical visual impairment (CVI). CVI is a brain based visual impairment that interferes with the ability to make sense of what you are looking at. Visually impaired is an inadequate description of my son’s vision. In seven years I have learned that most of the time, when we say blind or visually impaired, we are not talking about my son who has CVI, or about children who have CVI. When we say visually impaired, we are talking about someone with an ocular impairment, which has to do with the structure of the eye. Most everything that goes along with serving a student with an ocular impairment – accommodations, Braille, early learning, education, the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), orientation and mobility (O&M), schools for the blind, teachers of the visually impaired (TVI), university vision teacher preparation programs – has almost nothing to do with a child who has CVI. Continue reading “CVI critical mass and advocacy”
When it comes to talking about cortical visual impairment (CVI) in the school setting, the topic of social skills is always a focus. Because as parents, the thing we want most for our kids with CVI is for them to make friends. We want our child to be accepted and understood. Whether talking to teachers or therapists or others who are hearing “CVI” for the first time, social skills are at the top of the list. Continue reading “CVI for first graders”
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