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Research findings

What we discovered in our project on CVI in childhood

Results & publications

The project began in August 2025 and will run for 31 months. Initial results are expected in 2027. During the project, the team will give regular presentations at conferences and publish the presentations.

Insights into results from our preliminary study

In a preliminary study for our research project, we asked parents of children with CVI in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at what age their child was diagnosed with CVI. The responses show that CVI is either diagnosed directly in the first months of life (e.g. because there were complications or obvious health problems during pregnancy or birth) or only from the age of 4, because children are then faced with increased and unavoidable visual challenges in nursery and school:

Figure: Age of the child when CVI was diagnosed (Baier/Ruffieux 2024)

IIn this preliminary study, we also asked parents of children with CVI to describe in their own words what moments had a particular impact on them. We received numerous authentic responses, such as:

The first year at school was marked by bullying, failure, pressure, a decline in self-esteem, and stress with homework despite motivation and determination.
A parent of a child with CVI (Baier/Ruffieux 2024)

Publications

This table is continuously updated with our publications on the project:

Baier, F./Ruffieux, N. (2024). Parents of children with Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI): experiences and perspectives. Preliminary findings from a survey of parents.

Veröffentlichung erster vorläufiger Befunde aus der Vorstudie

Baier, F./Ruffieux, N. (2025-2028). Growing up with Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) – A research-based approach to improve the school-based support system for children with CVI and their families.

Projektdarstellung auf der Webseite des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF)

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