A School District Tackles CVI – Fairfax County Public Schools

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Hello fellow families of lovable children who happen to have cortical visual impairment,

In a previous post, I mentioned that, across the United States, more parents are educating themselves about their child’s diagnosis of CVI.  They are taking their research into their IFSP and IEP meetings. They are asking their school districts how a child with CVI will be accommodated in the classroom.

Parents receive a wide spectrum of responses to their questions.

(And, I hammered this home with a tortured analogy from West Side Story.   Sometimes I have to make sense of things through musical theater.  Everyone has their thing.  Don’t judge. 

west side story pairImage:  Tony and Maria from West Side Story singing Somewhere (technically she’s lip-synching) 

There’s a place for us….children with CVI to be educated in the manner in which they can learn because they can learn…..SOMEWHERE a place for ….children with CVI.  Aren’t you glad I didn’t dredge that up again?)

As a direct result of the advocacy of parents in their individual IEP meetings, some school districts in America are recognizing CVI as a common diagnosis (#1 pediatric visual impairment –  Can’t miss an opportunity to throw that in.)  and as an obstacle to a child’s access (our favorite word) to a Free and Appropriate Public Education.  In fighting for their own children, these parents are improving education for all of our children.  It does not happen overnight, but there has been significant progress since I began looking for like-minded parents a decade ago.

It’s important for families to know that there are school and district administrators who are open to listening and to learning.

(There is a troubling issue with special education administrators.  Did you know that special education administrators do not have to have a background in special education to hold their positions?  Special education is a term which covers a wide variety of diagnoses and educational approaches. One would think that an administrator in this field would need more expertise to represent the students in their district, definitely not less. When I learned this, I wondered if this isn’t one of the reasons so many families feel like they are hitting a brick wall when they ask for teachers and staff to be trained in educating children with CVI.  Something to consider.)

Kudos to the administrators who acknowledge the challenge of educating children with CVI and who take action to train their staff.  This is new territory. They are leading by example.

Speaking of examples, Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest public school system in Virginia, has made a significant commitment to training teachers about cortical visual impairment through the Perkins-Roman CVI Range Endorsement.  

Dr. Irene Meier is the Director of the Office of Special Education Instruction for FCPS.  Two years ago, when parents met with Dr. Meier to give her information about cortical visual impairment and its impact on student learning, she was curious to learn more.  She recognized the need for specialized training to work more effectively with children with CVI.  She and Dr. David Lojkovic, Educational Specialist for Adapted Curriculum, worked with Perkins to provide FCPS teachers training through the Endorsement program.

When recently asked about the training, Dr. Meier responded:

“Our collaboration with Perkins and the feedback from the teachers was a very positive experience. We plan to continue to offer access to these courses next school year.
Over the course of the past two years, FCPS has been fortunate to participate in training, provided by the Perkins School for the Blind, that has advanced the skills of our staff who are working with students with cortical visual impairment (CVI). 21 FCPS teachers have taken either graduate level or advanced level courses, with several in that cohort pursuing the specialized endorsement in cortical visual impairment.

The feedback from teachers has been extremely positive.
Participant quotes: “I like taking Perkins’ classes because they’re structured, but flexible.”
“The assignments are challenging, but not too challenging.”
“The work we do in the classes can be directly applied to practice.”
Survey results show that teachers appreciate the opportunity to learn more about assessment with the CVI range and have used skills learned from the coursework with students that they serve. Furthermore, teachers indicated via survey that they were engaged in the coursework and felt encouraged to try strategies learned.
85% of participants in the coursework indicated that they learned new information as a result of taking the course.”

french-pith-helmet-big-head-version

Image:  A pith helmet

For her willingness to address the challenges of educating children with cortical visual impairment, CVI Momifesto would like to offer Dr. Irene Meier our first honorary Pith Helmet of Gratitude for helping parents of children with CVI forge a new path, blaze a new trail, if you will, in special education.

So, fellow parents –

if your child has been identified with cortical visual impairment and you are getting a lot of pushback from your school district when you ask for accommodations, modifications, and educators trained in CVI,

if hours of IEP meetings have worn you down so that you start to doubt yourself,

if you start to wonder if your request for your child to have access to her education is even possible,

remember that there are school districts, there are administrators, there are teachers who get it.  They are working with parents.  They are learning how to work with our children.

A question you may ask your school district might be, if Fairfax County can do it, why can’t we?

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P.S. If you know of a school or a district that has risen to the challenge of working with children with CVI, let us know at Info@cvimomifesto.com so we can spread the word!

 

 

 

Moms on Monday #22 / Hope from CT

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Good morning fellow families of sparkling children who happen to have a diagnosis of cortical visual impairment!
Today, Hannah’s mom, Hope tells us about her feisty 4-year-old daughter and how she came to be diagnosed with cerebral/cortical visual impairment (CVI).

Hope and her husband, Rob, welcomed their first children, boy-girl twins at 24 weeks, 5 days gestation. When the twins were 18 months old, Hope was inspired to begin taking online classes at UMASS-Boston towards an M.Ed. in Vision Studies. She explains that by becoming a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) she hoped to learn everything she could to help Hannah’s twin brother, Joseph. Joe was diagnosed with low vision due to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

As a student in Ellen Cadigan Mazel’s class on cortical/cerebral vision impairment (CVI), Hope began to suspect some of Hannah’s unusual visual behaviors may have resulted from her complex medical history following birth. Hannah had significant complications following birth as a micro-preemie weighing less than 1 lb 8 ounces including intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) leading to post-hemorrhagic hydrocephaly (PHH) which required the placement of a shunt (when Hannah was 3 months old) to divert excess cerebral spinal fluid from her brain to her abdomen via a ventricular-peritoneal (VP) shunt.

Ellen Cadigan Mazel, Hope’s CVI class instructor encouraged her to have Hannah formally assessed.

Hope is writing today to encourage parents who suspect their son or daughter may have CVI to seek an expert opinion.

Hope also wants to encourage anyone reading this post to consider a career in vision studies. (Editor’s note:  Yes!  Yes!)

There is a growing need for TVIs, and COMS (Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists) and there are openings in nearly every state.

Parents in or near New England can learn more about the UMASS-Boston program by visiting the website https://www.nercve.org/.  Also, federal grants are available at some learning institutions to offset the cost of the degree.  Parents could contact their bureau or agency for the blind for advice on finding a vision studies program near them.

Hope is extremely grateful to her son and daughter’s educational consultant from DORS-BESB, Gail Feld, who left a brochure about becoming a TVI for Hannah and Joe’s babysitter. As a result of finding the brochure, Hope found out about the program at UMASS-Boston. Hope also wishes to express her appreciation for Joe and Hannah’s educational teams for their optimism, enthusiasm, and innovative steps they have taken to give her children the access to learning which has brought them this far.

Hope's twins

Image:  Joe (a little boy in a blue t-shirt and jeans)  and Hannah (a little girl in a yellow hat,  pink t-shirt and jeans) take a break by sitting on the rear stairs of one of the vehicles at a Touch-A-Truck event.

What can you tell us about Hannah?

Hannah is a strong, loveable and capable little girl. Complications of premature birth left Hannah with hemiplegia of her left arm and left leg. She has not allowed this to slow her down one bit! She wrestles toys away from her twin brother, Joseph with ease and then gallops away. When Hannah sets her sights on something there is no stopping her. She has a drive to learn and a passion for letters and numbers. Her greatest strength is her memory. Her favorite person is her father, her favorite place is the beach or pool, and her favorite things are books and television.
We came to suspect Hannah might have CVI at around age 3. At a team meeting, her Pre-K teacher related a story about Hannah’s affinity for a yellow spoon (color) which she would reportedly always look for and gaze at for long minutes during free-choice play. At home, color seemed to be an important element for Hannah in objects she was attracted to. She would always try to get her hands on the can of Pam ® cooking spray. Whenever this distinctive yellow and red can was near the edge of the counter, Hannah would try to reach it. Once I learned about the ten characteristics of CVI from Ellen Cadigan Mazel, my professor at UMASS-Boston, I began to suspect there was more to this “quirky” behavior.

I asked Hannah’s TVI, Peggy Palmer, if she thought it might be worth assessing Hannah for CVI. As it turned out—it was! Hannah’s results on Dr. Roman-Lantzy’s CVI Range put her in Phase III. The best outcome as far as Rob and I are concerned is that strategies for supporting children with CVI in the classroom, once implemented, made learning available to Hannah even before she was formally diagnosed, at age 4, with CVI by her ophthalmologist, Dr. Tara Cronin.
The diagnosis of CVI gave our family and the educational team a rich context for understanding how color could be an anchor for Hannah and why complexity inhibited her learning. For me, I finally began to understand my daughter’s unexplained behaviors. For example, when we brought Hannah to the toy store or library to pick out something “new”, she would consistently gravitate toward books and toys she already had (novelty). Her preschool teacher came to understand Hannah could attend to the activities of circle time ONLY if she were provided with hands-on materials to ground her in the activities of the meeting. Hannah’s physical therapist came to see Hannah learns best when verbal directions are given first, BEFORE actions are modeled with NO talking (complexity).

Now that Hannah is approaching kindergarten age, the biggest hurdles she needs to overcome are social. Hannah struggles to name classmates accurately UNLESS she is provided with auditory or other clues as to their identities (prosopagnosia).

What lessons has motherhood taught you?

Hannah and her twin brother, Joseph have taught me I need to be a strong and confident leader—even on those days when I do not feel strong or confident. While it is important to listen to what medical and educational professionals have to say, at the end of the day you need to trust your instincts. You alone are the true expert when it comes to your child and no one has a greater interest than you in his or her wellbeing.

Hope and butterfly twins
Image: Hannah (a little girl in ponytails holding a green stuffed animal), Hope, and Joe (a little boy in a blue baseball cap and glasses) on his mother’s lap.  They are relaxing on a butterfly shaped bench at Magic Wings in Dearfield, Massachusetts.

Another thing Joe and Hannah have taught me is that all children can—and do—learn. Behavior is the result of learning. If a child has behavior—whether it is functional or not—it is the result of learning. As our children’s first teachers, and later as their educational advocates, we need to make sure there is a match between our child’s availability to learn (attention) and the appropriateness of his or her environment for learning (access).

What advice would you give the parents of a child newly diagnosed with CVI?

Be the “help” you think your family needs. I am proud of the parent I have become as a result of all the challenges my family and I have overcome together. I have grown into a question-asking, action-taking, resistance-battling parent. While I do my best to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I seek my own answers and have—by becoming a TVI—gone to great lengths to become more capable of understanding my children’s visual diagnoses.

No degree is required to stay abreast of best practices in the education of students with visual impairment. Family Connect provides a host of free resources for parents of children with visual impairment and blindness.   Organizations like NAPVI and NFB’s POBC offer opportunities for families to network. Rob and I are most appreciative of our families, friends and co-workers who supported the four of us through the past few challenging-but-transformational years.

It has truly taken a village to raise our two resilient and amazing children.

Hope sesame place

Image:  Joe, Hope, Hannah, and Rob visiting Cookie Monster at Sesame Place

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Another piece of advice I have is this:  Believe in resilience.

One neonatologist, Dr. Gruen, assured us that despite their extensive brain bleeds (intraventricular hemorrhages) and ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) our children would go on to have remarkably good outcomes. He knew this, he said, because Hannah and Joe had caring, educated parents who were involved in their day-to-day care. He assured us that between early intervention services and lots of love, our twins would have “everything they needed”. And he was right!
It seemed, in those early days, that what the twins needed was something only “expert” others could provide. Day and night, nurses and doctors intubated, extubated, and re-intubated the babies who seemed to be in a constant struggle to survive. It was two weeks before their skin was deemed “intact enough” that we could safely reach a hand into their incubators and touch our own children. For ten precious minutes at a time, I held my hand flat on the back of one or another sleeping baby. Under that hand was a little person who found themselves in a world an entire trimester too soon. But they were here, and we would do our best to keep them here.

Before their eyes were even open, and before we were ever able to hold Joe or Hannah, Rob and I read to them through an open “port-hole” in each incubator. The host of readers grew to include grandparents and friends. As a result of all this TLC, Joe and Hannah have developed a deep love of books. On more than one occasion, each child has insisted on carrying a book into bed with them as one might a favorite stuffed toy or a blanket.

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If I could go back in time and give advice to my former self, it would be this:

1) Ask plenty of questions.

2) Accept resistance as a lack of understanding (of CVI).

3) Place trust in those who have earned it.

To this I would add: trust yourself above all others because—and believe me on this—no one cares more about helping your child achieve his or her best educational and medical outcomes than you and your family do.

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On Asking Questions

From the time they began to open their eyes in the NNICU, I was filled with questions about Joe and Hannah’s unusual visual behaviors which I did not ask. I was busy asking lots of other questions. I wanted to understand the implications of their high and low (blood) lab values, I would ask how long the treatment for NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) would last and how long it might be before Joe and Hannah would be well enough for us to do skin-to-skin care.
Soon, I started to observe some unusual visual behaviors almost from the time their eyes were no longer covered with light-therapy sleep-shades. One twin was staring up at the lights while the other seemed photo-phobic. I had questions. I did not ask all of them. Why not?
First, I had the feeling I should accept my children’s unusual visual behaviors. I suspected that any vision differences were a consequence of their premature birth and were to-be-expected. When our children were born 16 weeks early, we were told each baby had a 50/50 chance of survival. They were fighting for their very lives, not striving towards the next developmental milestone. Three months had gone by and Joe and Hannah’s “age-typical” peers were still in-utero; there were no “age typical” peers to compare them to.
Second, I held back from asking all the questions I had because of a sense that I (or we) had already asked enough questions. I had the irrational belief that if I exceeded some perceived “quota” of parent questions it would in some way slow down the progress of the care-team. The meetings ran close to an hour as it was, and, after all, weren’t we lucky to even be permitted a seat at the table?

What does Hannah like to do? What are her favorite activities? What do you like to do as a family?

Hannah loves to laugh. She has the most infectious laugh and almost anything silly will make her giggle. She especially likes when grown-ups make mistakes, such as mixing her up with her brother, Joe and calling them by the “wrong” names. As a family we enjoy swimming and going to the beach to build sandcastles.

Hope and Hannah at Science Center

Image:  Hope and Hannah pose with Splash (a large colorful fish sculpture) on a recent trip to the Connecticut Science Center.

What do you hope to do as a TVI you were not able to do as a parent?

I look forward to working with children with CVI and other visual issues because I know I can direct them toward resources I know from first-hand experience to have been helpful. Not everyone is ready to “join” a parent organization but I want my clients to know they are not alone. Other people are going through the same or similar experiences. It is my hope to support those individuals who are ready by helping families find each other, network, and come to consensus about what needs to change at a systems level.

What do you worry about?  What changes do you feel are needed?

Right now, I think there is a need for more information about CVI to be made available to education professionals starting with TVIs. The UMASS Boston program made a course on CVI a requirement for all TVI candidates. Other programs need to follow suit. Personally, I would be happy to speak to pre-service teachers—special educators especially—to provide some training on the characteristics of CVI. As a parent of a child with CVI and a newly minted TVI I feel I could provide an overview of this public health crisis and its causes. My goal would be to introduce them to some modifications and accommodations which can be of help to all students but especially to kids with CVI. I plan to start by reaching out to colleges and universities close to where I live in Connecticut.

As a TVI and a parent I worry about children with CVI who need appropriate services but for whatever reason are not receiving them. Also, I worry about the state-by-state criteria for low vision services. I believe every child whose CVI impacts their access to the general curriculum should be eligible for low vision services regardless of the results of their visual acuity test. Some parents are hesitant to bring their children with CVI for a low-vision exam. They are fearful a near-normal visual acuity result could cause their needful children to be identified as NVI (Not Visually Impaired) when, in fact, they are impaired.

Big and little changes are needed.

The time is NOW and the power is US.

Thank you, Hope!  I absolutely agree.  I have learned so much from your story and your dedicated efforts to become an expert for your children. 

There is a national shortage of teachers of the visually impaired and certified orientation and mobility specialists.  This is part of the reason it can be so difficult to find educators trained in working with children with CVI.  With parent advocates/TVI like Hope, the time IS now.  

 

Adventures in Advocacy / AFB’s Advocacy Call to Improve Special Education for Children with CVI

CVI Momifesto2 Comments

It happened!  History was made!

Yesterday evening, March 14th, at 8:30, the American Foundation for the Blind hosted a panel of parents, educators, TVI, administrators of teacher training programs, and advocates to engage in a “spirited” national conversation concerning Special Education of Children & Youth with CVI.  (I am deliberately using the initials CVI since AFB referred to the diagnosis as “Cortical Visual Impairment – what others refer to as cerebral visual impairment, and still others describe as neurological visual impairment.”)

Our moderator, Mark Richert, Esq., diplomatically came up with the following title for the call:

CVI = Consensus, Vision, and Initiative 

As a parent, I have said before and I will say it again. I do not care what you call this diagnosis.  You can call it, “Harold,” or “Pearl,” or “Jeff.”  This attitude may seem flippant to researchers and educators and it is.  CVI has lorded over our lives for over a decade and I’m not great with authority figures.

I care about finding the teaching methods that give my daughter (what?….Say it with me, folks!)  ACCESS to her environment.

climb-on-bus.pngImage:  A child wearing a backpack climbs on a school bus

My dream is that one day my daughter will get on a bus and go to a school where the teachers know more about CVI than I do.  My dream is that one day I won’t have to worry about what is happening at school all day.

Is this likely to happen anytime soon? No, it is not likely to happen anytime soon.

But, I have to try.  For Eliza.  For every other child.  For every other mom.  I believe I can say the same for the other parents who are advocating in their personal lives and the parents who participated in last night’s call whether as a panelist or a caller.

Mark Richert gave each panelist a chance to speak.  He made every effort to give callers a chance to comment or ask questions.   This turned out to be a bigger task than expected as AFB had nearly 200 people call in.  I don’t have the exact numbers but at last count we heard the AFB folks say 175 people wanted to participate in the call, both panelists and callers.

 

The panelists included:

Brenda Biernat – CVI Parent, Advocate, and Founder of StartSeeingCVI.com (and the mom who reached out to AFB to make this call happen.  Bravo!)

Rebecca Davis – CVI Parent, Advocate, Member of the Pediatric Cortical Visual Impairment Society & Blogger at CVI Momifesto

Sandra Lewis, Ed.D – Coordinator and Professor, Visual Disabilities Program, Florida State University

Amanda Lueck, Ph.D – Professor Emerita in Special Education, San Francisco State University

Rona Pogrund, Ph.D – Professor and Coordinator of Programs for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Texas Tech University

Dorinda Rife, CLVT, COMS – Vice President, Educational Services and Product Development, American Printing House for the Blind

Christine Roman-Lantzy, Ph.D – Director, Pediatric View Program, Western Pennsylvania Hospital

Diane Sheline, TVI, CLVT – Independent Consultant for Students with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment

Alisha Waugh, COMS – CVI Parent and Physical Therapist

 

It was a passionate conversation.  I, for one, appreciated the fact that the professionals in the field of educating children who are blind or visually impaired were willing to listen to us and to each other.

Listening is an important first step.

We parents do have a lot to say.  We have been waiting a long time for Cortical Visual Impairment to be taken seriously in the educational community.  Many of us have stories about the CVI Range.  We have stories about what we have learned by studying the work of Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy and how it has changed our children’s lives for the better.  We have stories of daily struggles and challenges, confusion and tears, low expectations for our children’s cognitive abilities, and lack of access to visual information being interpreted as “behavior issues.”

It is still hard for me to believe that despite Cortical  Visual Impairment being the #1 pediatric visual impairment in first world countries, there remains so little consensus on how to educate these children.

It is time for things to change.

If, as Mark Richert and AFB have stated –

“Successful advocacy requires at least 3 key elements:

consensus about the problems and solutions,

a shared vision among stakeholders regarding the desired outcome,

and initiative on the part of committed change agents who are willing to play a long game while achieving milestones along the way” –

Then, yesterday’s conversation revealed a common concern for the education of children with CVI and parents revealed themselves as committed change agents extraordinaire.  

What a great t-shirt idea!  (AFB, I get 10% of net sales.) 

I’m in for the long game, just don’t tell  my daughter or she will make me play Monopoly.  No one deserves that.

Stay tuned!

 

Adventures in Advocacy: Never Underestimate the Power of Pie

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Hello fellow parents of glorious children who happen to have CVI,

Let’s talk a little advocacy with a dash of history, shall we?

When CVI Momifesto began in September, Dr. Sandra Newcomb, a Perkins-Roman Endorsed Consultant and Technical Assistance and Education Specialist at Connections Beyond Sight and Sound at the University of Maryland, left the following comment:

“Historically, it has always been parents that brought about change.  Parents were behind IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children) behind all the change in service delivery for autism, and the list goes on….

Not that you as parents need one more responsibility, but that is where the power is in special education.

Think about it.

In the not too distant past, children with special needs were not educated in schools.  They were not educated, period.  Parents were encouraged to “put away” their children and to continue with their lives.  “Throw away” is more like it if you look at the soul crushing history of institutions in America.

Parents went against the advice of medical experts and brought their children home.  Parents came together and began programs to teach their children.  Parents approached their legislators demanding that their children had the same right to a free and appropriate education as any other child.

We are the power that made special education happen. 

The fact that we have an IDEA to refer to and resources to look for (even if they are hard to find) is because of the parents who came before us.

Here’s what we, as parents of children with vision loss, need to understand as we blaze our trail.

Children with vision loss are considered a “low incidence” population. 

If you have had any experience trying to get a teacher with expertise in CVI in a public school district, you have learned that it is a challenge to get attention (and resources, funding, staffing…) for your child with this “low incidence” diagnosis.  You may find yourself in an IEP meeting or sitting across from a school administrator and hear those words “low incidence.”  Then, you may find yourself walking out of the meeting without getting anything you requested because “low incidence.”

Can I just say how much I dislike the term “low incidence”?

Some school systems and state legislatures have a tendency to forget that these populations of children need resources and funding too.

Here are a couple of thoughts I have about this.

#1.  There is no comprehensive, national system of data collection keeping track of children with CVI.  Some states have “soft” systems like a registry of children with certain medical diagnoses, but, doctors and hospitals are not required to use it.  Also, many state registries do not list Cortical Visual Impairment (or other pediatric visual impairments).

How can you keep track of a diagnosis if it is not even a box you can check off?

To school systems and state and federal funding streams, CVI is a low incidence population within a low incidence population.  Read: lowest possible priority.

But, if no one is counting, no one really knows the true number of children with Cortical Visual Impairment.  Often, children with CVI get put in a category called “multiple disabilities” and the vision loss goes unrecorded.

So, “low incidence,” my Aunt Fanny.  If you aren’t counting, then I call foul.

Remember, it is common knowledge that CVI is the #1 pediatric visual impairment in developed countries.

#2.   If children with vision loss are a low incidence population, then, to be heard, we, the parents, have to be loud, focused, and repetitive.  (Jessica M. said in her Moms on Monday post that she had become “a broken record.”  That’s what I feel like too.)

We need to start talking, often and loudly to certain groups of professionals.

We need to talk to teacher training programs to tell them we need more teachers who have been trained to work with children with CVI.

We need to talk to ophthalmologists to get CVI identified early and accurately.

We need to talk to legislators to change existing laws to require more specialized training (The Cogswell Macy Act needs your support!.)

We live in a world of constant distractions.  It is hard to get people galvanized around a single issue.

As you read this sentence, you have received 10 new posts on Facebook, 3 tweets, 15 emails, a few texts, your dog is pacing by the door in need of a walk, your child needs a new diaper, and your boss wants that report yesterday.  Am I wrong?

Every waking minute it seems as though we are bombarded with a parade of worthy causes and the resulting impulse to respond to them.

How can we start highlighting our worthy cause in today’s frantic world of modern media?

Here is something old school I’m doing every chance I get because something has GOT to give.

Talk to future teachers

From my experience, folks do not become special educators and/or teachers of the visually impaired to get rich quick.  They have a genuine desire to improve the lives of very vulnerable children.  They work hard.  There are not enough of them.  They may not have access to enough resources to do what they want to do in their classroom.

They care.

Wherever I live, I reach out to the special education department of the local university. In Bloomington, Indiana, I spoke to special education students in Dr. Melissa Keller’s class at Indiana University.  In Maryland, I spoke to students in Dr. Sandra Newcomb’s class.

Most recently, in Virginia, I reached out to Dr. Kim Avila, the head of the Visual Impairment Consortium, at George Mason University.  She has been kind enough to allow me to speak to her class of future teachers of the visually impaired for 2 years in a row.

On Monday, I joined a conference call to speak to this year’s group of future TVI on the first day of their unit on Cortical Visual Impairment.  The course is offered as online learning.  One of the students lives in Alaska and was compelled to become a TVI because of the number of children she is seeing in Early Intervention with CVI.  (She is my new hero.)

I told them about E, where she began and where she is now.  I told them about how challenging it has been to find teachers who had heard about Cortical Visual Impairment or what to do to help children with CVI learn.  I told them that teacher preparation programs for TVI do not typically include Cortical Visual Impairment in their curricula.

Then, I mentioned the Perkins-Roman CVI Range Endorsement.   I asked them to consider becoming endorsed because they will have children with CVI on their caseload and they need to be prepared for them.

Because, why not?  How is anything going to change if we do not start asking for things to change?  We have to start a conversation to raise awareness.  If these future teachers do not know that they will experience children with CVI in their classrooms, then they will not know to look for specialized training.

To seal the deal, I offered a homemade pie to anyone in the class who becomes CVI endorsed.

Even to the lovely lady in Alaska.

I would gladly freeze dry and Fed Ex a pie to Alaska, to the North Pole even, if it would increase the number of teachers who can help children with CVI have access to their environment.  So far, no one has taken me up on it.

But, the offer stands.

I do not kid about pie.

Future educators need to hear your experiences.  And, their professors would love to have your input in their classes.  You could research special education classes or TVI preparation classes at a university near you.  You could write a professor and say, “Hey, I’m the parent of a child with Cortical Visual Impairment.  I would love the chance to share our experiences with your class.”

If you do, tell CVI Momifesto how it went!

There might be a pie in it for you.

 

 

pie