Growing up with Cerebral Visual Impairment

Visual perception disorders are referred to as CVI (Cerebral Visual Impairment) and encompass a whole range of possible visual impairments, which are caused in the brain.

Children with CVI may have difficulty in perceiving shapes, facial expressions and faces, as well as spaces and distances, or may perceive them in a distorted manner or not at all. These disorders are often only discovered at kindergarten or primary school age, because children then have to perform increasingly demanding visual tasks. In addition, these disorders are sometimes inadequately diagnosed or not diagnosed at all, which can have a significant impact on the child’s future. We would like to investigate the prevalence of visual perception disorders in children in Switzerland for the first time and develop ideas on how affected children can be supported in the future.

Our questions are scientifically and socially relevant because research from other countries suggests that CVI is much more common in children than previously thought. If this is also true for Switzerland, the questions arise of what experiences children with undiagnosed CVI currently have, how CVI can be detected in children as early as possible, and how children with CVI should be supported in the future.