How do I ask the school to assess my child for vision loss or CVI?

If your child has any type of low vision, including CVI, the school may be required by law to provide certain assessments. For example, in California, schools must figure out the best way for them to access learning materials through a special evaluation called a learning media assessment (LMA). California Education Code 56353 also recognizes the importance of assessing Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) for children who are blind or have low vision.

Even if a formal diagnosis hasn’t been made yet, CVI might already be impacting your child’s ability to access the general curriculum, so don’t hesitate to ask for assessments.

A functional vision assessment, including a specific CVI assessment, can look at all the different CVI visual behaviors and how a child is using their vision, but also how they’re using their compensatory skills — or those nonvisual skills that our kids use as workarounds for everyday things.

Assessments can help teachers of the visually impaired create a robust and personalized evaluation report, which includes specific recommendations to support your child’s learning and needs.

For more information, see our full article Supporting a Child with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) at Home, School, and in the Community.