About PCVIS

Previously, Francesca was the Director of the Miami Lighthouse CVI Collaborative Center, where she initiated the model providing assessment, educational planning, parent education, professional development and support for teams working with children with CVI.

Francesca holds a MEd in Blindness and Visual Impairment from Salus University, a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University, and is a Perkins-Roman CVI Range Endorsed professional.

With guidance from Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy, Jonathan works to assess and support children with CVI through a variety of therapies. He has worked to raise awareness about CVI and appropriate interventions in the region by presenting at regional conferences and by meeting with local doctors, hospitals, schools, and therapy clinics. Jonathan holds the Perkins-Roman CVI Range Endorsement and a MEd from University of Massachusetts, Boston.

A big part of Lindsay’s work is to communicate the needs of young children with visual impairments and additional disabilities to community professionals working in this field. Under her work with the Ontario Blind-Low Vision Early Intervention Program at the Training and Development Centre, she supports the Blind-Low Vision Early Intervention agencies across the province. Lindsay provides coaching, training, and workshops to community partners. She has spent much time reviewing the current research and striving to promote the implementation of evidence-based practices in early childhood learning settings. Lindsay believes it is the environment (including the teaching approach) that is the primary barrier to learning. It’s her main goal to build capacity in our childcare settings, schools, and children’s homes.

In 2010 and 2011, MaryAnne completed the PA CVI Mentorship with Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy and the CVI Range Endorsement 2018. She has presented on CVI at conferences across the country, as well as in Canada and twice in China. 

MaryAnne owns Envision CVI Consulting and works with families, school districts, and teams nationwide to support students with CVI. 

In 2021, Saint Lucy’s School for Children with Visual Impairments initiated a CVI Intensive Support Program under MaryAnne’s leadership. The program supports students with Cortical Visual Impairment in grades K-8 in Philadelphia and surrounding counties, in an academic setting.  

MaryAnne serves on the CVI Early Intervention Advisory Board of the Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) and the Board of Directors for the Pediatric Cortical Visual Impairment Society. MaryAnne is the mother of 8 children including 4 children with special needs adopted from China.

In 2018, Kathryne became involved in PCVIS after attending the American Conference on Pediatric Brain-Based Visual Impairment. Inspired by other PCVIS parent members Kathryne connected with her state chapter President of AER and the Outreach Department at the Louisiana School for the Blind to bring the first CVI training to Louisiana in October 2018. Kathryne and several Louisiana CVI parent advocates then applied and graduated from Louisiana’s Partners in Policymaking in 2019.

In 2019, Kathryne was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to Louisiana’s State Interagency Council for Early Steps which advises and assists the Louisiana Department of Health on early intervention for children birth to 3. Kathryne also served as Chairperson of the Council for two years before stepping down in 2022. At the time Kathryne left the Council, half of the parent members of the Council had a child with diagnosed or suspected CVI.

Kathryne continues to speak at school board meetings, state department of education meetings, and at legislative committees on the importance of early identification of CVI, universal design for learning, and presuming potential of all students, even those with severe or complex disabilities. Her proudest accomplishment is when an educator or parent tells her how another child was identified and supported because of what they learned from her testimony.