ABSTRACT

Reliability of The CVI Range - A Functional Vision Assessment for Children with Cortical Visual Impairment

Children identified as visually impaired under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) need to have a functional vision assessment to determine how the visual impairment affects educational performance. Most current functional vision assessments have been based on the needs of children with ocular visual impairments (children with damage to the eye structures). Children with visual impairment due to brain damage, or cortical visual impairment (CVI), have unique vision characteristics that are often different from children with ocular visual impairments. Given this situation, Roman-Lantzy (2007) developed The CVI Range for conducting a functional vision assessment of children with CVI. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of The CVI Range.

In this study, 104 children were assessed with The CVI Range. Twenty-seven children were tested by two examiners to determine inter-rater reliability; 20 children were tested on two occasions to determine the test-retest reliability; and 57 children were tested one time by a single examiner. The CVI Range had an internal consistency measure or alpha of .96. The inter-rater reliability coefficient was .98 and the test-retest reliability coefficient was .99. In addition, the CVI Range has two sections that are scored differently and the scores from the two sections were compared to determine if they provided similar scores and therefore similar implications for intervention. Kappa, or the index of agreement, for the two parts of the assessment was .88. Results of this study indicated that The CVI Range is a reliable instrument. Future research needs to focus on training needs related to administration of The CVI Range as well as training of the many professionals that serve children with CVI. Research is also needed to determine appropriate and effective interventions for children with CVI. The CVI Range can be used to document progress and therefore determine the effectiveness of interventions and further knowledge in the field of evidence-based practices that are appropriate for children with CVI.