Visual Perceptual Abilities In Young Children Diagnosed With Cvi Versus Those With Ocular Disorders

Purpose : Currently, there is no available standard approach to diagnose Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI). Vancleef et al (2020) showed that the Children's Visual Impairment Test for 3- to 6-year-olds (CVIT 3-6) differentiated children with CVI from three groups: typically developing children, children with intellectual disorders, and typically developing children with simulated reduced visual acuity. We performed a prospective clinical study to assess the ability of this visual perceptual test to differentiate children with CVI from children with ocular and/or ocular motor disorders. Methods : The CVIT 3-6 is an objective test that uses a simple matching technique to assess the child's visual perceptual abilities. In-person testing was not feasible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed and tested a virtual model first in a small sample of typically developing young children. Study participants were later recruited from a pediatric low vision clinic. Our clinical cohort consisted of two groups, children with a previous diagnosis of CVI and children with ocular and/or ocular motor disorders only. The examiner was unaware of the participant's diagnosis prior to data collection. A validated parent questionnaire regarding CVI, the Flemish cerebral visual impairment questionnaire, was also administered. Results : Preliminary data show a small, non-significant difference in overall CVIT 3-6 scores between participants with CVI and those with ocular disorders. (means 56 vs. 64.7, respectively. p = 0.151). For the Flemish CVI questionnaire, participants in the CVI group had a significantly higher % abnormal scores on average than those with ocular disorders (p = 0.003). Our virtual testing protocol was successful in all participants tested to date. Conclusions : In this preliminary study, collected data suggest that the CVIT 3-6 did not differentiate between children with CVI compared to those without CVI. This study is ongoing. Results from a larger sample will be needed to verify this finding. The Flemish (Ortibus) questionnaire differentiated between children with CVI from children without CVI.