Did you see this (3 min read)

Eyes are often the focal point of many individuals, especially children, but eye development and movements are easily overlooked.

More so parents are unaware of the ripple effect of eye movements on various other development factors of their children. In this article we will briefly highlight some of the more common eye movements and their importance as well as the most regularly encountered cases of eye development problems.

The four types of eye movement’s occupational therapists look at:

• The ability to maintain visual contact with a target (tracking)
• Quick localization
• Convergence
•  Across midline (moving eyes from one’s left side to one’s right side smoothly)

Often it is found that children do not have the ability to keep visual contact with a moving target. They are not able to dissociate between head and eye movements – this means that they will move their heads or their eyes will jump from one place to another while trying to keep contact. The child may also have difficulty to cross his/her midline with the eyes and will lose contact with the object. Another common problem seen is small, jerk-like, involuntary eye movements called Nystagmus. Children sometimes are not able to localize their eyes quickly from one place to another, or lose focus when an object is brought closer or further from their face.

All of the above mentioned problems may have a negative influence on your child’s school work and further development, such as reading; copying from the black board; tracking moving objects; visual memory; writing; attention and concentration. To help in understanding some of the visual skills required for school work, think about the classroom environment. A child sits at a desk, writes, alternately reads from a textbook and from the chalkboard, and usually follows the teacher’s movements around the room while listening to the lesson. Some of the visual skills required in the classroom are:

• Focusing flexibility and quick localization: being able to maintain clear vision while shifting focus from a distant object to a near one, like looking up to the board and back to your book.
• Tracking/eye movement skills: being able to aim both eyes accurately and move smoothly across a line of print or from object to object with ease, while doing this the child needs to be able to cross his midline smoothly.
• Eye-hand coordination: being able to use the eyes to guide the hands.
• Eye teaming and binocular vision: being able to coordinate the two eyes together so that they are precisely directed at the same object at the same time.
• Convergence: following an object with your eyes coming closer and further, such as in ball games and gross motor activities.

Children who have eye teaming, tracking and focusing deficiencies often have complaints of dizziness, nausea, headaches, and/or red, burning and itchy eyes. These symptoms often occur after the child is required to maintain visual concentration. For example, doing a reading lesson or writing from the black board is enough to stress a child’s visual system when it is deficient in any of the above skills and may cause fatigue, restlessness and difficulty paying attention.

Eye movement difficulties may also cause visual perceptual-; gross-and fine motor coordination; eye-hand coordination; balance; gravitational security; and many more problems that are much needed and important in your child’s development.

“Looking” at the facts the importance of eye movements can’t be stressed enough, even though it might seem like something small and insignificant.