Joseph sees differently-what the heck is CVI?

As explained in this post, Joseph suffered a traumatic birth injury that left him with numerous  complications related to his brain.   Today's post will try to explain CVI-cortical vision impairment.

Technically speaking, Cortical Vision Impairment is a term used to describe vision impairment from a brain injury.  Pretty vague isn't it?  Another crap chute diagnosis we have been told over the years.  What it means is Joseph's brain was so damaged that the parts of it that interpret what he sees do not work as they should.  His brain does not process what he sees correctly because the signals to his brain have been interrupted by the brain damage.   So you and I may see a purple eggplant but Joseph's brain cannot process that it's a purple nor an eggplant, so he may not know or understand what he is seeing.

Joseph, myself and his teachers have been lucky to work with some highly trained specialists from the VCU Virginia Deaf-Blind project.  They showed us many techniques and methods to improve his quality of education and life as he tries to access his world.   The Deaf-Blind project has held training sessions at his school for Joseph's teachers and therapists through the years to show them how to present objects to him, what colors he may prefer, how to block out background vision "noise" to help him focus on an object, and how to help him make choices and communicate some of his preferences of things he prefers to see, hear, do, taste, etc.

Things we have learned from VCU's guidance:

Joseph may prefer one color over the others.  Over the years we think he prefers the colors red and yellow from the positive responses we received.

Joseph may need to have objects moved so they catch his attention. What I mean by that is if you hold up a toy for him to see, you have to shake or move it to draw his eyes to it. 

Joseph has a preferred location or field of vision to present objects.  If you are facing Joseph, the best place to show him something is slightly off center to his right side, at about 120 degrees.  It is also best to stand or sit to Joseph's right if you want to talk to him.

We also noticed that Joseph likes things that light up, and it appears as though he may try to follow them with his eyes.  He prefers that the same objects are presented to him, as it takes him a while to get used to new things. 

You also need to take your time and give Joseph lots of time to process what is going on, what he is seeing, and give him time to figure out if he likes what he sees or not.  Patience is definitely a virtue and even his little sister Sarah presents objects to Joseph and gives him appropriate wait time to process.

In summary, there is no cure for CVI (notice a theme here?) but there are ways to better communicate with Joseph as outlined.  It definitely was devastating to hear yet another impairment Joseph has added to the ever growing list, but sight is only one of 5 senses, so he can access his world in multiple ways. Following these guidelines when interacting with Joseph will make your whole experience with him better quality and more meaningful.