Visual processing and visual perceptual skills are major components that need to develop in the young child in order for him/her to be able to participate fully in the classroom environment. In babies, oculomotor development can be seen firsthand as babies try to focus and coordinate both of their eyes to work together (binocularity). As a child grows, their eyes must develop to be able to function together. If there are signals that a child is demonstrating oculomotor difficulty (such as a wandering eye, squinting, seeing double, difficulty keeping place while reading, skipping letters or words while copying sentences, etc), a visual screening should be done, preferably by a developmental optometrist. Good vision is more than just acuity. The eyes, brain, and learning are all connected. The following link is a great website that children, (and adults, too!) will find fun. There are games for all visual processing skills, including visual tracking (smoothly following a moving object with the eyes), scanning (moving the eyes to locate an object among others, as in a word search), visual discrimination (finding differences among similar objects), figure ground (seeing figures against a background), and eye teaming (both eyes working together). Again, if a child is demonstrating difficulties in any areas of visual processing, a visit to a developmental optometrist could help. Developmental optometrists work to correct a variety of visual issues using specified techniques for vision therapy. Many of them work together with pediatric occupational therapists in order to maximize the child's functioning within the academic environment. Many young students who struggle in school have visual processing difficulties that may go unnoticed. Usually, a student with visual processing difficulties who gets help often improves his/her school performance. Check out the following website to learn more about visual processing skills and have fun!
