Division on Visual Impairments

VIDBEQ 62(2) Spring 2017

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

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VIDBE-Q Volume 62 Issue 2 knowledge and skills they need to help students succeed. Gurskey and Yoon (2009) did a comprehensive analysis of 1,343 studies examining the effectiveness of PD. They found only 9 studies that met the standards of credible evidence. Among the results in these studies were findings that workshops and summer institutes can, in fact, be effective if they focus on research-based instructional practices, involve active learning for participants and allow teachers to adapt what they learn to their own classroom circumstances. Gurskey and Yoon also found that PD that involves the use of an outside expert whose presentation was research-based and included activity-based learning in their workshops were critical features. They also found that extending the time spent on workshop content with follow up activities and technical assistance helped make them more effective. The Need for Training Brain-based visual impairment (also known as cortical visual impairment and cerebral visual impairment / CVI) is the most common form of visual impairment in developing countries today (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus /AAPOS). It is estimated that up to 70% of school- age students in the United States have a brain-based visual impairment which will be referred to as CVI in this article. Cortical visual impairment (CVI) is a decreased visual response due to a neurological problem affecting the visual part of the brain. Typically, a child with CVI has a normal eye exam or has an eye condition that cannot account for the abnormal visual behavior. CVI is caused by damage to the visual part of the brain. Examples of such damage include: stroke, decreased blood supply, decreased oxygenation, brain malformation or infection, hydrocephalus, seizure, metabolic disease, head trauma and other neurologic disorders. A diagnosis of CVI must be made by an eye doctor (ophthalmologist or pediatric neurologist). Diagnosis of CVI really began to appear in the 1990s. Initially named "Cortical Blindness" it was thought that the there was no potential for improvement. Today we know differently. Children with CVI benefit from instruction to improve their visual skills and behaviors. "Instruction in visual skills can be accomplished 21

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