Apple iPads may help to improve the lives of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI), a neurological disorder caused by brain damage that interferes with children's ability to process visual information.
Specialists in Junior Blind's Infant & Early Childhood Program (IECP) and University of Kansas (KU) assistant research professor, Muriel Saunders, Ph.D., were conducting a study on the development of communication skills in young children with CVI when they discovered the potential of using the iPad to help them to strengthen their functional vision.
With children who have CVI, it is the job of our Junior Blind Specialists to help them develop the cognitive skills to interpret what their eyes "see". Early intervention procedures with children with CVI are traditionally based on helping them "look" at and recognize a visual stimulus, such as a picture or an object. Because the brains of children with CVI do not process the visual information they "see", they do not place meaning to it.
Light boxes and transparencies are typically used because these children have an easier time seeing lights and objects in high contrast. However, since their discovery, the IECP program and KU researchers are replacing light boxes with iPads and select applications that are interactive and have sound.
The results have been amazing. Children are not only "looking" at the images on the iPad, but they are interacting with them. For a child with CVI, this is a monumental achievement.
"We tested fifteen children and were absolutely surprised," said Dr. Saunders. Every child was enthralled with the iPad. Children that don't typically look at people or respond to objects, were glued to the iPad."
Laura Campaña, Director of the Infant & Early Childhood Program has begun formal research on the impact of using the iPad to help children with low vision develop functional vision skills. Preliminary data is anticipated by Spring 2012.
To learn more about how iPads are helping children with CVI, please click here.
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