>>Narrator: Video Clips on Blindness Tips, a series of video demonstrations for
daily living skills for the blind and visually impaired;presented in conjunction with the
Washington State School for the Blind. The following
clip features WSSB Orientation and Mobility Instructor, Joe Dlugo, working with student
Damian. Damian has Cortical Visual Impairment or CVI.
>>Joe: This is Damian he is a primary aged student with Cortical Visual Impairment.
He's learning to cross streets and understand his neighborhood. By knowing how he sees and
ways we can help him learn we can expand his world.
First of all, what is Cortical Visual Impairment? It is important to think of vision as a team.
You have your eyes and you have your brain. The eyes function as the collector of information.
The brain functions as the interpreter. The eyes can be working just fine,
sending information to the brain; but the brain
often misinterprets that information. Cortical Visual Impairment is often abbreviated simply
as CVI. Let's take it to the streets and try to
better understand CVI.
Other more common visual impairments may include an acuity loss, where detail
is reduced; or a field loss where either peripheral or central vision is compromised.
Although CVI can include aspects of those types
of visual impairments, the experience is more often likened to looking at a piece of modern
art; when image is difficult to understand or,
like looking at a puzzle with many pieces missing.
By choosing tools and strategies tailored to each
individual student, we can help to fill in those
missing pieces and make the world more clear and
comprehendible for our students.
>>Narrator: Damian begins to cross a neighborhood street at a corner.
>>Joe: This is the type of environment that a
person with CVI is most suited for. It's clean, well-organized and predictable.
Unfortunately, most of the world isn't like this.
[Sounds of a truck passing by]
Now one thing that we can do to help our student sort out all that visual clutter is to use
pictures. Tablet computers work great for this.
We can do a slide show quick and easy. Images in a slide show are shot at progressively
closer distances simulating a student approaching a landmark.
>>Narrator: Damian and his Orientation and Mobility Instructor, Joe, approach
a landmark which is a Rite Aid sign on a busy city street.
[Background noise in a classroom.] >>Damian: This is where.... Look this is
where we walked. >>Joe: Yup, that's right.
>>Joe: When designing a slide show it's important to use prominent bright
colored objects as land marks. The Rite Aid sign,
a fire hydrant... ...truncated domes.
And Damian's goal? To learn to cross this quiet residential intersection.
We use that sign as a landmark.
>>Damian: This iPad is cool. >>Joe: Where's the sign? Yeah,
right there exactly. Now where's the sidewalk right next to the sign?
Perfect, you got it exactly. Okay, go to the next frame.
And, now this is once again before you are going to cross the street.
That is the Willow Glenn sign, can you point towards it?
>>Joe: With an IPad the student can sort through pictures and enlarge
them as they see fit. "Good. You made it bigger. Check out those on your own."
>>Narrator: Damian examines the pictures on an iPad.
>>Damian: It's cool see?
>>Joe: After exploring on the iPad, we head to the neighborhood to check out
the real thing.
>>Narrator: Damian explores the Willow Glenn signage.
>>Joe: It's here where we have to consider lighting. Here's a photograph of our
intersection on a cloudy day. Here it is on a sunny day.
They may look similar to our eyes but to a person with CVI shadows can look
like objects. By enhancing the shadows on the photographs on the sunny day we
have a simulation of what it might look like to person with CVI.
Just because a student has mastered a skill in one lighting environment
does not mean that they can perform it in another.
Now it time to cross streets. One technique we use to focus Damian's
attention is physical prompting. It helps him concentrate his vision
on one area.
>>Narrator: Damian points in the direction he plans to cross.
>>Joe: Nice job. Let's continue going to the next one.
>>Joe: As with many things in life practice makes perfect. Damian may
appear cautious his first attempt through an environment but very
confident in his next.
>>Damian: Two, Three. >>Joe: This needs to be considered
when teaching street crossings.
>>Joe: At first his crossings may not look very good, but with
repetition, repetition and more repetition Damian does improve.
>>Joe: After several lessons, and many attempts... perfection!
>>Narrator: This is just one scenario. It is important to recognize that
every child who experiences a visual impairment due to CVI is different
and therefore each child's program will be different and tailored to
their unique needs. Finding what is right for that individual is
a process.
Thanks to Damian for all his hard work.
>>Narrator: More Video Clips on Blindness Tips are available from the Washington
State School for the Blind at wssb.wa.gov.