Discussion #1
Timmy’s diagnosis (hemianopsia) is the common result of damage or blocking to the optic chiasm. Timmy’s condition is the result of a brain tumor, and significantly effects vision in both eyes .Other causes of this condition include stroke or traumatic brain injury. Based on his condition some of the physical deficits may include: tripping, falling, or inadvertently bumping into objects. As a result of the physical uncertainty he faces Timmy may develop psychological concerns, such as anxiety. Timmy may become filed with dread about possibly being harmed or harming someone else. Further, Timmy may remove himself from social interaction due to this anxiety, to avoid embarrassment. For a young child like Timmy his schooling would be severely affected. A child this age is just learning to read, which is difficult without visual blockers. This may result in a child being ridiculed by classmates or stereotyped by teachers. Some suggested methods of intervention/ treatment include: saccadic eye movement training, training in hemoptic reading skills, and visual restoration training (Bergsma & Van der Wildt, 2008). These methods use eye exercises and stimulation to counteract the deficits.
Sara’s condition (prosopagnosia) is characterized by inability to recognize people’s faces. This is a common symptom of visual agnosia. Visual agnosia is defined as “inability to perceive stimulus of a particular sensory modality, with retention of normal intellectual capacity” (Carlson, 2014, p. 146). Sara will have difficulty recognizing anyone she encounters by face and will have to use other cues to establish with whom she is interacting. This will place obstacles in her social interaction, and like Timmy may result in social isolation. Sara may also be at a disadvantage with teachers or superiors, as in certain contexts Sara may not know with whom she is addressing, and thus Sara could be perceived as disrespectful. Those afflicted with this condition are forced to utilize body shape, clothing, or movement for recall. Unfortunately all of these cues could be altered day to day. “Some people with prosopagnosia can identify people by unusual static information, such as hairlines or hair color” (Bennetts et al., 2015, 859). Examples like these are the only current “treatment” options. Most individuals utilize other elaborate compensatory strategies such as the use of jewelry, clothing, or voice to recognize a familiar person.

Discussion #2
Timmy has a tumor growing on the pituitary gland (Hori et al., 2009). Because the tumor it situated on the pituitary gland, hormones could be affected. This could affect normal development reaching puberty, growth, and stress hormones among others (Hori et al., 2009). Timmy might not be able to get the sleep he needs at night as a result of the tumor pressing on the optic chiasm (Romeijn et al., 2012). This is because the tumor compressing the optic chiasm also affects the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus helps regulate when people sleep and wake up. Body temperature regulation might also be disrupted because the tumor is very close to the preoptic area, the area that controls body temperature (Romeijn et al., 2012).
The optic chiasm is being compressed very close to the hypothalamus. This could affect Timmy’s mood because the hypothalamus helps regulate moods (Schnell, Albrecht, & Sandrelli, 2014). Timmy could suffer from depression as a result of the hypothalamus not regulating moods normally. Further, if Timmy’s sleep is becoming disrupted, he could be irritable. If sleep is disrupted for a long period of time, Timmy’s body could function inefficiently. Not getting enough sleep can compromise how the systems in the body function (Schnell et al., 2014). Disruption of mood might affect Timmy’s social functioning.
Because Timmy’s vision is impaired because the tumor compressing the optic chiasm, vision might return after the tumor is remove (Mueller, Mast, & Sabel, 2007). If the tumor is removed, Timmy could benefit from Visual Restoration Therapy (VRT). During VRT, stimuli are produced where there are areas of remaining vision. VRT has been proven to help patients regain some of the vision after damage to the optic chiasm has occurred. Field of vision and reaction time to stimuli also increased after VRT. The success of VRT is not associated with age or sex, therefore Timmy could greatly benefit from this intervention even though he is very young (Mueller et al., 2007).
Sara has scarring on her fusiform gyrus from a seizure. Damage to the fusiform gyrus that resulted in disruption to the ventral stream can lead to cognitive deficits such as the inability to recognize faces, words, and objects (Sigurdardottir, Ívarsson, Kristinsdóttir, & Kristjánsson, 2015). Word recognition could be impaired and affecting the ability to form sentences in the correct word order (Sigurdardottir et al., 2015). Because Sara has an impaired ability to recognize faces, her ability to distinguish between facial expressions and gestures could be compromised (Farivar, Blanke, & Chaudhuri, 2009).
Sara will most likely have impaired social relationships because she cannot recognize faces to names. Patients with prosopagnosia have an icrease risk od developing social anxiety disorder (Davis et al., 2011). The fusiform gyrus is under the hippocampus and that can affect memory and social relationships (Moadab, Bliss-Moreau, & Amaral, 2015). Sara’s cognitive ability to read and form sentences is impaired and her academics would likely suffer (Martinaud et al., 2015). Sara’s physical functioning does not seem to be affected however if she had a seizure there could be a chance of a recurring episode. Sara’s mood could be affected because of depression or possible visual hallucinations because the damage is near the visual cortex (Martinaud et al. 2015).
Sara could benefit from a participant in Farivar et al. (2009). A woman in Farivar et al. (2009) had prosopagnosia and it was almost impossible for her to recognize faces and ojects. During her study, she used the strategy of memorizing specific features (e.g., lips) in order to remember names to faces. This strategy only helped slightly, but it could be different for Sara.
Although there is not currently recommended or official treatment for prosopagnosia, research continues to exercise memory recall abilities of patients (DeGutis, Chiu, Grosso, & Cohan, 2014) to expand knowledge of the disorder. Treatment for Sara could include medication to help with any anxiety in social situations if it is necessary (Baldwin et al., 2016). During intervention, Sara could participate in coming up with strategies similar to Farivar et al. (2009) and be monitored through fMRI over time. The fMRI could check for changes in brain activation where Sara has deficits.