Individuals with CVI show fatigue in a myriad of ways. The medical and educational teams for each child with CVI must understand the compounding effects of visual fatigue and implement strategies and supports to reduce visual fatigue and increase access. There is a neurological and physiological reason why individuals with CVI develop fatigue. Read the first part in this series: The science behind visual fatigue and CVI.
Research captured some of the signs of visual fatigue—what so many living with CVI or raising kids with CVI experience daily. In a study that found a relationship between clutter and increased fatigue, children with CVI showed various signs of visual fatigue, including: “rest head in hands, pushes all items out of view, asking for pause/snack/stopping, leaves the table, closes eyes/blinks often, talks/tells jokes, fidgets/touches mouth/hair, yells, touches eyes/glasses, looks around/away, stares at screen” (Van Hove et al., 2025).
It’s imperative to understand the signs of fatigue specific to each individual with CVI. Parents have the most observational data of their child with CVI and know what fatigue looks like.
In the CVI Now Parents group, we asked “What are your child’s signs of visual fatigue and fatigue in general?” Here are some of the responses:
Some other examples of signs of fatigue can include: resting head in hands, pushing all items out of view, asking for a snack or preferred activity, running away, walking to the corner of the room, looking away, closing eyes and appear to be sleeping, head down, talks, sings, or tells jokes to change the interaction to an auditory event, fidgets and plays with objects in near, yells, grabs, or shows other outward behaviors.
Behavior is communication. Fatigue is a key contributor to visual difficulties associated with CVI. Ellen Mazel wrote a blog post, Beyond the CVI Meltdown, that discussed what certain behaviors from students with CVI might be communicating. Mazel wrote, “if teams understood CVI, they would understand these behaviors as communication. They would know why these children were distracting and avoiding.”
Learn about ideas to help reduce visual fatigue. Hint: It’s all about accessibility.
Dive into webinar on CVI and Visual Fatigue presented by Rachel Bennett for the CVI for the TVI series.
Check out a parent’s blog post about CVI and fatigue, Drink before you’re thirsty, at StartSeeingCVI.com.