Posted October 8, 2019 • Updated October 8, 2020

Today is World Sight Day, a global day of awareness to focus attention on blindness and vision impairment. Here we share some resources for you to better understand vision, how it is affected by certain epilepsy surgeries, and what you can do to help your child with vision impairments.

  • New! Eyelander is an online game for children and adults with visual field loss, including homonymous hemianopia, as well as cerebral vision impairments. It provides “gamified visual search training that can help improve the player’s ability to find objects in cluttered settings.” Eyelander can be played on a tablet or with a mouse and keyboard on a computer. And it’s free!

  • New! Perkins School for the Blind has released a new website all about cortical/cerebral vision impairment – CVI Now. We have worked closely with Perkins  School for the to help bring the patient voice to this new website. Check it out!

  • If your child has had an occipital lobe removed or disconnected as part of epilepsy surgery, make sure you understand homonymous hemianopia.

  • Take a break and watch this one-hour video to help you learn about homonymous hemianopia from our partners at Perkins School for the Blind.

  • Homonymous hemianopia is an “invisible disability.” Consider whether it would be appropriate for your child to use a white cane, especially in public. This can que other pedestrians that your child has a vision impairment and avoid unintended collisions with other people in crowded areas like shopping malls, busy sidewalks, or crowded school hallways.

  • Some children may have other types of cerebral vision impairment as a result of seizures, hydrocephalus, anti-epileptic drugs, or other epilepsy surgeries. Make sure your child is followed by a qualified neuro-opthalmologist and is fully evaluated by a teacher of the visually impaired in school.

  • Temporal lobectomy or lesionectomy can sometimes result in an upper quadrant field loss opposite the affected temporal lobe. Make sure your child is evaluated after surgery to see if this loss has occurred.

Brain Based Visual Impairments

This presentation from our family and professional conference this summer introduces you to various brain-based visual impairments caused by seizures, anti-epileptic drugs, hydrocephalus, and epilepsy surgery.

VISION AFTER HEMISHERECTOMY, TPO DISCONNECTION, AND OCCIPITAL LOBECTOMY

This guide summarizes the various visual impairments a child will have after hemispherectomy, TPO disconnection, and occipital lobectomy, and how they can affect a child’s daily living, functional mobility, and access to the educational curriculum in school.

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QUICK GUIDE: SPECIALIZED INSTRUCTION, ACCOMMODATIONS, AND AIDS FOR CHILDREN WITH HOMONYMOUS HEMIANOPIA

Revised October 2019! This Quick Guide provides educators and parents with specialized instruction, accommodations, and aids to help a child with homonymous hemianopia in any educational environment.