VIDBE-Q Volume 66, Issue 2
31
expressed in three Phases of severity. Results of the CVI Range can be used to
support student-centered educational program development, with implications for
adaptations and modifications across activities and skill domains.
Many children with CVI also present with additional challenges, including
complex communication needs, physical challenges, and/or hearing loss
(deafblindness). The 2019 National Deaf-Blind Child Count (NCDB, 2020) reports
that approximately 29% of children and youth (age 0-21) identified as Deaf-Blind
have cortical visual impairment, while an additional 16% are unknown as to
whether or not they have CVI. Communication interventions for students with
complex communication needs and visual impairments/deafblindness should be
informed by the results of collaborative and multi-disciplinary assessment,
including expressive communication assessment, functional vision assessment,
learning media assessment, functional hearing evaluation, and/or fine/gross motor
skill assessments (Rowland, 2009). The Communication Matrix (Rowland, 2004)
is an assessment of early (pre-linguistic) expressive communication development
appropriate for use with students who have complex communication needs and/or
sensory challenges including deafblindness (Rowland, 2011). The Communication
Matrix is widely used for assessing the current expressive communication levels of
any child who is communicating on a pre-symbolic level, and results can be used
