Observations on the Habilitation of Children with Cortical Visual Impairment

Abstract

<jats:p> There is a radical difference between the visual habilitation of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) and those with ocular visual loss. This article presents the experiences of a developmental psychologist, a child neurologist, and a teacher of the visually impaired who worked with CVI children for a number of years. </jats:p>

Vision impairment in Liverpool: prevalence and morbidity.

“…Morbidity associated with very low birthweight There were 22 VLBW children (11% of all children with vision impairment). Mean birthweight was 926 g (range 622-1460 g); mean gestation was 26-5 weeks (range 24-30 weeks).…”

Understanding Cortical Visual Impairment in Children

“…It is speculated (Groenveld, 1990) that much of what is learned in the early developmental years is reinforced visually. Vision is the sense that enables humans to perceive simultaneously an object in its complete form and the object's relationship to other objects in the environment (Groenvelcl, 1990). Understanding visual impairment in children can be complicated.…”

Recent advances in cortical visual impairment

“…Other causes of CVI include: shunt failure 10 (which can lead to ischemia and occipital lobe infarction), infections (bacterial meningitis 1 , encephalitis 25 , meningitis/encephalitis 2 , congenital toxoplasmosis, and neonatal herpes simplex 10 ), antenatal use of cocaine and amphetamines by the mother 11 , metabolic disease (most of the neurodegenerative diseases have the potential to disrupt cortical vision) 26,27 , complications of cardiac treatment (CVI has been reported after cardiac arrest and open heart surgery) 1,24 , twin pregnancy 1,28 , epilepsy 29 , and CNS developmental defects 29 (lissencephaly, holoprosencephaly, and schizencephaly). CVI is virtually always associated with other serious neurological abnormalities 2,7,11,30,31 . Whiting and coworkers 25 found evidence of abnormal cognitive development, cerebral palsy (CP), seizures, microcephaly, hydrocephalus, sensorineural hearing loss, myelomeningocoele, and progressive CNS degeneration in children with CVI.…”

“…Most patients with CVI will not regain normal vision 34 . However, improvement is usually seen over time 2,3,11,34 . Visual improvement may be rapid, particularly in cases of traumatic injury, however, usually visual recovery is gradual.…”

“…Cortical visual impairment (CVI) is the leading cause of bilateral visual impairment in children in Western countries [1][2][3] . This finding reflects better methods for identifying visual impairment due to CNS injury and also advances in perinatal care, which have increased the survival rate of children with neurological morbidity.…”