Anchor Center CVI Initiative team presents at CVI Collaboration for Change Conference in Boston!

Members of our CVI Initiative team partnered with Perkins School for the Blind’s CVI Center this past week at their CVI Collaboration for Change Conference in Boston in June 2022. Conference highlights included: 

Dr. Michael Chiang, Director at the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes for Health was the keynote speaker. He shared that part of the National Eye Institute’s ongoing strategic plan includes prioritizing CVI research. This work begins with establishing a national registry for individuals who have a CVI diagnosis. He is seeking input from the CVI research, education, and leadership community on this project.  

Dr. Ellen Forte – leading expert in design and evaluation of assessment tools and education at EdCount presented standards on data-use methods to better understand and serve children with CVI. Ellen discussed the processes by which Perkins is designing an assessment tool as part of the Perkins CVI protocol. https://www.perkins.org/resource/the-perkins-cvi-protocol/ 

Lotfi Merabet (Harvard, Massachusetts Eye and Ear), Barbara Landau (Johns Hopkins), Glen Prusky (Cornell): presented recent advances in scientific research relating to the assessment of visual abilities in CVI and in other neurodevelopmental disabilities. Dr. Landau discussed recent studies done on patients with Williams syndrome. Dr. Prusky discussed recent research specific to eye tracking and assessing saccades, pursuits, visual field, and contrast sensitivity in children with brain injuries. Dr. Merabet discussed his ongoing work using virtual reality environments to better understand CVI and is working on a new study investigating picture interpretation in individuals with CVI.  

Perkins’ CVI Center is developing the Perkins CVI Protocol which includes a digital comprehensive CVI assessment system using a whole-child approach which. The hope is for this tool to be used widely which will results in a roadmap for each child’s success in education and beyond.  

How is CVI being addressed in the greater vision community? 

CVI is recognized in the greater vision community, but there is still so much more education that needs to happen for current and future stakeholders. Families in attendance at the CVI Collaboration for Change Conference have fought for their child to either receive a diagnosis of CVI or for their child to receive vision services based on the CVI diagnosis. We have come a long way with regard to recognizing CVI and providing services, but there is much more that needs to be done for identification, assessment, and intervention. 

How is Anchor Center helping to address the issue of CVI? 

By taking on the CVI Initiative, Anchor is working on strengthening our data collection- both in how data is being collected and what happens once it is collected. Working with the pediatric ophthalmologists, we are devising ways to identify and manage CVI and our team of teachers and therapists are working at the angles of assessing and providing interventions. This is all developed with the intention of early identification and early intervention helping a child with CVI improve their overall functioning and visual abilities.