Brain Injury Visual Assessment Battery for Adults (biVABA)

Brain Injury Visual Assessment Battery for Adults (biVABA)

Designed by MARY WARREN MS, OTR/L, SCLV, FAOTA

Based on twenty years of clinical practice and research, the biVABA provides therapists with a practical tool for completing a quick, accurate, reliable, and useful assessment of visual processing ability following adult onset brain injury. The battery focuses on identification of the functional limitations experienced by the client as a result of the visual impairment to provide the information needed to develop effective treatment plans.

The battery includes standardized assessments for evaluation of the visual functions important in ensuring that visual perceptual processing is accurately completed:

• visual acuity (distant and reading)
• contrast sensitivity function
• visual field
• oculomotor function
• visual attention and scanning

The comprehensive, easy to read, test manual provides:

• detailed instructions on how to give and interpret each subtest
• the functional limitations expected if the visual function is impaired
• how to use test results to write treatment goals and design treatment intervention
• alternative methods for evaluating persons with limited capability to respond

Lightweight and completely portable, the biVABA is designed for use in acute and long term care, home health, and inpatient and outpatient programs with persons who have sustained brain injury from such conditions as CVA, TBI, brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, degenerative neurological diseases and Alzheimer’s. Components of the test can also be used to evaluate low vision conditions associated with macular degener-ation, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and cataract.

What advantage does the biVABA have over traditional visual perceptual tests?

THE biVABA GUIDES TREATMENT PLANNING

Where other tests merely label the perceptual deficit, the biVABA guides treatment planning by showing how the perceptual process has changed as a result of brain injury, how functional performance may change because of the visual perceptual deficit and which treatment interventions will be effective.

THE biVABA ASSISTS IN IDENTIFYING REHABILITATION POTENTIAL

The biVABA enables therapists to determine if the client will benefit from cuing, structure or practice and therefore assists in identifying the client’s rehabilitation potential and the number of treatment sessions required.

THE biVABA ENABLES EARLY DETECTION AND REMEDIATION OF VISUAL DEFICITS MAXIMIZING FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES AND SAVING MONEY

The biVABA includes instructions for modifying the subtests to measure visual processing in clients with limited cognition, language and attentional capabilities so that visual processing deficits can be identified early in the client’s recovery. This ensures that treatment dollars will not be wasted in working with clients whose unidentified visual deficits prevent them from fully participating in and benefiting from therapy.

THE biVABA INCLUDES ALL OF THE TESTS NEEDED TO COMPLETE A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE CLIENT’S VISUAL PROCESSING

While other tests may only measure one aspect of visual perceptual processing requiring the purchase of several different tests kits, the biVABA contains all of the testing materials needed to complete a comprehensive assessment of the client’s visual function.

THE biVABA IS QUICK AND EASY TO ADMINISTER AND INTERPRET

The evaluations included in the biVABA are easy to administer, simple to score, and a snap to write up because interpreta-tion of test performance is provided in the test manual.

THE biVABA EQUIPS THERAPISTS TO EXPLAIN VISUAL PERCEPTUAL DEFICITS TO THE CLIENT, FAMILY, PHYSICIANS, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND OTHER TEAM MEMBERS

While other test kits provide a brief booklet of instructions, the biVABA provides a comprehensive 150 page manual which, in addition to detailed test instructions, includes sections on the rationale for evaluation and treatment of visual perceptual impairment following brain injury, understanding specific visual impairments following brain injury and their effect on functional performance, interpreting test results to clients and family, consulting with optometrists and ophthalmologists, and implementing treatment planning based on test performance.

The biVABA CAN BE USED TO EVALUATE CLIENTS WITH BOTH BRAIN INJURY AND LOW VISION

The bivaba contains 4 subtests which can be used to measure visual function in persons with low vision secondary to macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and other conditions, enabling the test to be used for both populations.