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The Bridge School: Cortical Visual Impairment

The Bridge School serves many students with CVI and their website includes ideas for assessment and intervention, especially in relation to communication and AAC devices.

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The Bridge School in Hillsborough, Californa has created a new microsite about CVI (cortical visual impairment). There are numerous planning forms that can be downloaded from the site.

Sections on the site include:

  • Introduction

    • Definition of CVI
    • Who We Are & Vision Needs of Our Students
    • How We Started
    • What We Have Found
  • Assessment

    • Characteristics and Phases of The CVI Range Assessment
    • Direct Assessment
    • Parent Interview
    • Considerations
  • Interventions
  • Outcomes
  • Resources

 

Related Research

Creating a Path for Systematic Investigation of Children With Cortical Visual Impairment Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication

There are significant challenges to face when serving children with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI)  who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). One of the challenges is to find evidence-based research and intervention to guide practice. Boster, et. al., conducted a review designed to explore the available evidence on the topic and found that out of over 500 articles, only 10 discussed AAC interventions that included children with CVI. Authors noted that none of the studies addressed how vision might have impacted the design of AAC systems and/or the nature of AAC interventions. Their findings are published in the June issue of American Journal of Speech and Language Pathology 

Children With Cortical Visual Impairment and Complex Communication Needs: Identifying Gaps Between Needs and Current Practice

This article reflects research from the Bridge School and includes information about barriers professionals currently face in providing services to these children, including a lack of training at the preservice and inservice levels and limited opportunities to learn from and collaborate with other disciplines. Parents also reported that the communication outcomes for their children with CVI who use AAC was of concern. Their children relied on body-based methods with limited access to language.