Little Bear Sees and Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children proudly present their first collaborative app for those with cortical visual impairment (CVI). This innovative app allows the user to create two-dimensional object identification tasks using their own photos and voice.

Though designed for students with CVI, this is a great app for parents or teachers working with any student to discriminate between different images! It can also be used to create a short talking picture story. Upload images from your day at the zoo, for example, record voice narration for each picture and arrange them on the play screen in any order you wish! Then just tap the pictures in sequence to tell your story.

More information about My Talking Picture Board. Buy it on iTunes.

It’s been a busy couple of months here at Little Bear Sees, and we have some very exciting things to announce!

Our first ever Little Bear Gives CVI iPad package giveaway was a great success!  We are happy to report we received almost fifty submissions!  We were so touched by the many stories we read as we understand exactly how challenging it can be to raise a child with CVI.  We truly wish we could give iPads to everyone!  We were delighted to offer the full CVI iPad package to a lucky little girl in Illinois named Olivia.  We hope she is doing well and reaping the benefits of owning her very own iPad.

Little Bear Gives is excited to announce that our second CVI iPad package giveaway will take place in December of this year!  The package includes:

• An iPad (current generation) with a link to our website: www.littlebearsees.org
• A copy of our CVI-specific app: Tap-n-See Zoo*!
• A copy of our new book about CVI: Little Bear Sees: How Children with Cortical Visual Impairment Can Learn to See

* You must have an iTunes account in order to receive the app.

Applications from all qualified applicants from the previous giveaway have been kept on file and applicants can automatically re-qualify through our website by clicking here.  This option is only for those who already submitted an application in the previous cycle, were notified that their application qualified for our giveaway, and wish to have it entered again into this cycle.  At this time we are only considering applications for a child with cortical visual impairment and in which the family has a financial need.  The application can be filled out by anyone on behalf of the child (a parent, therapist, other family member, etc), but only one application can be submitted per child.  Only applications filled out in full will be considered.

If you would like to enter our giveaway for the first time, you can fill out our application online or print and mail it to:

Little Bear Sees
1513 Ralston Ave.
Burlingame, CA 94010

All applications must be received by December 15, 2012 and the winner will be chosen by December 30, 2012.

We are proud to announce Little Bear Sees Foundation’s first project: Little Bear Gives. The focus of Little Bear Gives will be to provide CVI iPad packages to families in need who have children with CVI. A family at any income level may be considered for this project. The term “family in need” applies to any family who may not be able to afford an iPad for a variety of reasons. We know that many children with CVI have complex medical or other needs that can be very expensive, making it difficult to find the money to invest in an iPad.

We believe the iPad can be an amazingly powerful tool in the life of a child with CVI. iPads are uniquely suited to the needs of those with CVI because they are backlit, easy to interact with, and there is a huge variety of apps available to suit the particular needs and preferences of each child. For these reasons, we are excited to announce that we are giving away our first iPad through our Little Bear Gives project! Our iPad package will include:

• An iPad (first generation) with a link to our website: www.littlebearsees.org
• A copy of our CVI-specific app: Tap-n-See Zoo*!
• A copy of our new book about CVI: Little Bear Sees: How Children with Cortical Visual Impairment Can Learn to See

For more information about the project, or to apply, please read all the details on our Little Bear Gives page.

As you know, last Friday and Saturday, June 15th and 16th, 2012, we attended the first cortical visual impairment (CVI) conference hosted by the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children!

The conference was called CVI: Visions of Change and featured a lot of excellent information about CVI! There were also a number of tables set up to highlight different vendors. You can see a picture of our table here. Having a table gave us a great opportunity to demonstrate how our app (Tap-n-See Zoo) works, talk about our book, answer questions, and meet some great people! We were amazed and humbled by the high level interest in our new book!

In addition to the tables, there were a number of presentations by notable experts in the field. Topics included:

• The Basics of CVI
• Intervention Strategies for each of the Three Phases
• Questions for Health Care Providers
• Inspirational Talk by Jeni Stepanek (Mother of Four Children with Disabilities)
• Neuroplasticity
• CVI and Deafblindness
• Orientation and Mobility for those with CVI
• The Reliability of The CVI Range (Dr. Roman’s CVI Assessment Tool)
• Promoting Systems Change for Students with CVI
• Little Idea Log (http://littleidealog.blogspot.com/ Great ideas from another parent)
• Little Bear Sees
• Using the CVI Range

While we can’t possibly talk about everything we learned at the conference, there were a few key items we took away that we thought were worth mentioning.

What We Learned about CVI:

As we work on spreading the word about CVI, we are frequently reminded how few people really know about CVI. Even those who have heard of it often have some misconceptions about CVI that can be damaging to children with CVI because they can interfere with appropriate intervention. We were reminded of a few common misconceptions during the conference and we will discuss these below:

1. Black and white books, toys and pictures are good for kids with CVI.

This is a very common and particularly troubling one as many parents are told by well-meaning doctors and therapists to use a lot of black and white with their children with CVI. While some children with CVI may respond to black and white over time, they will have a MUCH easier time seeing color. Color is hugely important for children with CVI because color vision is usually preserved. The parts of the brain that are used to look at color are located deep in the brain on both sides, making them harder to damage. Red and yellow are very often the first colors that a child with CVI will see. Remember that the goal in CVI interventions is to provide the child with many opportunities to use the vision that she has. Unlike physical therapy, for example, the idea is not to challenge the child beyond their current abilities, but to give them frequent chances to use their vision, which will then allow it to grow and expand on its own. For many children with CVI, black and white is simply too difficult.

2. The vision of a child with CVI changes constantly.

It is easy to see why many people believe this to be true. A child with CVI may appear to look at an object with relative ease one day and yet have a difficult time looking at the same object the next. Dr. Roman-Lantzy reminds us that it is NOT the child’s vision that changes, but something else that is making it harder for the child to use his vision. Perhaps the environment has changed. If a child is easily distracted by other sensory input, he will have a much harder time looking at an object if there is a lot of background noise, for example, than if they are in a quiet room. If a child is fatigued or not feeling well, it may also be harder for that child to use her vision. This does not mean the child’s vision has changed, but that some other factor is interfering with her using her vision. This is a very important distinction to make because it places the responsibility on us instead of on the child. If your child seems to be having a harder time using his vision, ask yourself what other factor may be at play. Is there some environmental adaptation you can make to make it easier?

3. The vision of a child with CVI is like looking through a piece Swiss cheese.

This is an idea we’ve encountered on a number of websites and until recently, we didn’t realize that it wasn’t true. Instead, Dr. Roman-Lantzy describes the vision of a child with CVI as looking at a hidden object picture or a Where’s Waldo? picture. In other words, children with CVI can see everything, but may not be able to make sense of what they are seeing. The difficulty is not with seeing, but with understanding what is seen.

4. Vision can’t improve.

One of the main goals of our work has been to spread a message of hope for children with CVI. With proper knowledge and intervention, vision can improve! A talk given by neonatologist Dr. Alan Lantzy reminded us of just how amazing the human brain is. He spoke about neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to reorganize itself. What this means for a child with CVI is that even though there may be damage to visual centers of the brain, the brain can reorganize itself so that other areas can take over visual functioning. To us, this is truly an amazing phenomenon and the reason that we have so much hope for our Little Bear!

What We Learned about Life:

One of the highlights of the conference, on a personal level, was hearing keynote speaker Jeni Stepanek. From her son’s website (www.mattieonline.com):

Jeni Stepanek, Ph.D. — award-winning speaker & NY Times Bestselling author — is a noted advocate for personal and world peace, as well as children’s & families’ needs and rights in health & education. The author of “Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs,” Jeni’s inspirational message about hope, peace, disability, hospice, grief, support, parenting, collaboration, motivation, and spirituality has been carried by all media outlets.

Like her son, the late bestselling poet & peace advocate, Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Jeni has a rare neuromuscular disease, and relies on a ventilator and wheelchair for breathing and mobility. A noted guest on Good Morning America, Oprah, Larry King and the MDA Labor Day Telethon, Mattie created poetry and essays from age 3 until he passed away in 2004 at age 13, and published 7 books that became NY Times Bestsellers. Mattie is the youngest of Jeni’s four children. All four — Katie, Stevie, Jamie, & Mattie — died during childhood due to complications of the genetic neuromuscular disease Jeni unknowingly passed on to the children before she was diagnosed.

Jeni’s message for us was simple, yet profound: every person has a purpose. No matter how much time they spend on this earth or how many challenges they face while here, all people have a purpose. The question is, how do we measure a person’s worth? Is it by the abilities they have or by the lives that they touch? Personally, we choose the latter. By this measure, our little bear has a purpose larger than we ever could have imagined … and constantly growing.

We’ve waited 8 long months to be able to announce this: our book, Little Bear Sees: How Children with Cortical Visual Impairment Can Learn to See, is finally available!  We got it done just in time to bring it with us to the CVI: Visions of Change conference we’ve been at for the last two days.  We are thrilled to say that every copy we brought with us had sold out by 11:00 am on the first day of the conference!  You can buy your very own copy on Amazon.com  or BarnesandNoble.com for $18.00.  Within a couple of weeks, we should also have our eBook available for Nook, Kindle, iPad and other popular eReaders for $9.99.  At that time, we will also have a PDF version of the book available on our website, also for $9.99.

Little Bear Sees: How Children with Cortical Visual Impairment Can Learn to See is the first book about CVI written by parents, for parents.  When we first learned that Lukas had CVI, we wanted to know exactly what CVI is and what we could do to help him, but had a difficult time finding that information.  Our book answers those questions in a concise and practical way.  At the same time, we talk in depth about our story as well as the stories of three other families who generously agreed to be part of our book.  We want you to see real life examples of families who have been able to successfully encourage vision in their children and let you know that you’re not alone.

From the foreword by Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy:
“Little Bear Sees is a book that provides both information and inspiration. It walks the reader through real family journeys and real family solutions. Parents who read Little Bear Sees will find a partner in their own experiences with the medical and educational challenges. The family stories may seem familiar and comforting.”

We truly hope our book will be a great resource for you and we look forward to hearing your feedback!