“Development of Vision and Visual Delays”
I read a very relevant developmental vision related article on the website of the American Acadamy of Ophthalmology. From ophthalmology quarters archaic, overly pro-surgery sounds are often heard when it comes to strabismus and developmental vision issues. Nonetheless, sometimes they pleasantly surprise you. The article shows awareness of the need to monitor visual milestones in infants and visual function in older children to maximize potential and quality of life. It also touches on the need to correct farsightedness or hyperopia as quickly as possible to avoid later problems. On the research level some ophthalmologists are starting to understand what the rest of them are willfully ignoring in practice.
For the full article go to: https://www.aao.org/disease-review/delayed-visual-development-development-of-vision-v
Their conclusion was exactly right and I wish more ophthalmologists would heed the call in terms of prevention and proper behavioral treatment if need be.
“… This chapter discusses two areas in early development:
The first area is observing delays in the visual milestones during the first year. These delays often go undetected, which may derail an infant’s emotional and cognitive development. Early detection by parents and pediatricians could be improved if information on vision in early development were available.
The second area involves early loss of vision with incomplete functional diagnoses in older children. Incomplete diagnoses occur because commonly used clinical assessments do not include the additional testing required. Visual acuity at full and low contrast levels using calibrated tests (near and distance), crowding phenomenon, grating acuity, contrast sensitivity measured using gratings of at least two sizes, motion perception, depth perception, visual fields, color vision, and adaptation to luminance changes require varying test techniques adapted to children’s ocular motor problems and communication difficulties. These tests are used selectively when they depict functions that a child’s educational team believes are problematic.
At a minimum, if the core tests could be used by therapists and teachers on the educational team and by local eye care professionals, children’s visual functioning would be better understood at the basic health care level and in educational settings.“