Outcomes and Opportunities: A Study of Children with Cortical Visual Impairment

Abstract

PediatricView is an evaluation project that began in 1999 and is located at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh. It is affiliated with the hospital's Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology and was initiated as an adjunct to the neonatal developmental follow-up clinic. The purpose of Pediatric View is to provide developmental and functional vision evaluations to children who have ocular or cortical visual impairments. A team that includes a neonatologist and an individual who has expertise in child development and visual impairment conduct the evaluations. The evaluations are generally two hours in length, and a detailed report that provides specific follow-up intervention strategies is provided for each infant, child, or adolescent. Since 1999, more than 300 individuals with cortical visual impairment (CVI) have been evaluated at Pediatric View. In 2003, systematic data collection was initiated to monitor the progress of infants, children, and adolescents who have CVI. The data collection and analysis are based on two specific research questions: "Are there commonalities in the medical histories of infants, children, and adolescents who have CVI?" and "Is there measurable improvement in the functional vision of children who have CVI?"

Evaluation of Behavioral Characteristics in Response to Visual Stimuli in Infants with Cerebral Visual Impairment

“…Some studies have reported that the CVI phases and scoring system can be used to guide visual therapy and monitor treatment response. 15 , 19 , 45 However, it has also been stated that further research and evidence are needed to support the role of this scoring system in the clinic. 11 …”

Use of Goal Attainment Scaling to Measure Educational and Rehabilitation Improvements in Children with Multiple Disabilities

“…The Cortical Visual Impairment Range Assessment (CVIRA) [ 33 ] is a reliable functional vision assessment designed to investigate the visual characteristics associated with CVI. It measures the degree of CVI severity on a 0–10 continuum where 0 represents no visual function and 10 represents near typical visual function [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Current perspective: Cerebral visual impairment—The impending doom

“…The Roman-Lantzy scale has been designed for the assessment of visual and behavioral characteristics in terms of color preference, visual latency, need for movement, difficulty with novelty, visual field preferences, complexity (array, objects, faces, and sensory environment), difficulty with distance viewing, need for light, atypical visual reflexes, and difficulty with visually guided reach in children with CVI is most commonly used for the evaluation of functional vision in these children. [ 15 ]…”