Perkins eLearning course

April 17, 2023 - June 11, 2023

“Use the “What’s the Complexity” Framework to design a visually accessible school day for children with CVI.

This course addresses the, “Now what?” question that many of us face as educators and family members. Learning about CVI and its diverse variety of manifestations is an important first step, and the first few weeks of this course will focus on deepening our understanding of CVI. However, the primary theme of this course is on the practical, systematic things we can do to guide teams in implementing this knowledge throughout the school day in order to give students true access.

In the beginning of the course, participants will move toward an advanced understanding of how CVI can impact a person’s ability to process the environments and curriculum materials throughout a typical school day. In order to explore the ways in which CVI can impact a child’s behavior and access to education, we will be integrating both the literature from the “Cortical Visual Impairment” and the “Cerebral Visual Impairment” schools of thought.

Next, participants will learn how to use The What’s the Complexity Framework in order to evaluate the complexity of school environments, tasks and materials and to guide educational teams in creating more visually accessible, appropriate learning activities for children with CVI.

In addition to learning how to rate the complexity level of a particular environment or education task, we will also emphasize the importance of balancing the complexity of the environment and task in each activity, managing cumulative complexity and visual fatigue throughout the school day, assessing interpretation of two-dimensional images, and providing direct instruction in salient features.”