Title of Project: Early Intervention Trial for Visual Processing Deficit in Cystinosis

Background: In earlier studies, we found that children and adults with nephropathic cystinosis often have significant difficulty with visual spatial skills, and that this in turn can lead to academic difficulties, particularly with math. Earlier studies by Bernhard and Major (2005) and Temple et al. (2003) had demonstrated that a computerized program of gradually increasing difficulty could help to improve auditory processing speed in children with language-based learning disabilities. We hoped that we could use a similar idea to improve processing of visual information with a computerized program that would gradually increase visual processing speed.