About the Study

VISIBLE is a novel early intervention RCT funded by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance for infants with significant motor and vision difficulties and their families in the first year of live. It was designed by the SMILE Lab team in Pisa based on many years of expertise to address a gap in rehabilitative interventions for infants with brain damage and severe vision impairments. Infants with severe cerebral visual impairment (CVI) at high risk of Cerebral Palsy (CP) at 3-6 months will be enrolled into a 6-month intervention program. This pilot RCT study will assess the feasibility of a vision-awareness program actively engaging parents in enriching their baby’s vision and development. The home-based program of goal directed early intervention will be supported by multidisciplinary team through parent training and fortnightly home visits. The daily intervention activities will be provided by the parents and will focus on environmental enrichment and targeted vision-aware developmental goals. Behavioural assessments will be utilized to evaluate the program efficacy on vision, motor, and general developmental function. The five recruiting sites (Pisa, Stella Maris in Italy, and Australian sites in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) will utilize existing early detection and intervention networks to ensure successful completion of the study.

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Contact: Ada Bancale abancale@fsm.unipi.it.  Olena Chorna ochorna@fsm.unipi.it