You will know that an individual has a good and healthy vision when the eyes automatically move smoothly, accurately, and quickly. An essential part of having good vision is eye tracking movements. If you have eye-tracking problems, no medication or surgery can fix that problem. Glasses alone cannot correct the problem but reading lenses or bifocals can help to reduce symptoms.
When it comes to correcting eye tracking problems, vision therapy is very effective and it produces lasting results. Despite any age, vision therapy eye exercises can improve eye tracking. If you think that you have eye-tracking problems, a standard 20-20 eye exam does not test any eye movements. It is possible for a person to pass the 20-20 eye exam and have undetected eye-tracking problems.
Signs and Symptoms of Eye Tracking Problems
Scanning information, following moving objects, saccadic eye movements, and eye-hand coordination are visual actions that require good eye tracking skills. You will know that you have eye-tracking problems if your eye movements are slow, inaccurate, unreliable, and jumpy at times.
These are the signs and symptoms of eye-tracking problems:
- Skipping lines while reading and/or frequent loss of place
- Frequent sleepiness or drowsiness after short periods of reading
- Eyes skip around during reading confusing one word with another
- Uses finger or marker or ruler as an aid in reading
- Moving head excessively while reading, writing, or doing tasks up close
- Poor reading comprehension
- Careless errors when working up close
- Attention or behavior problems when reading or close vision work
Is It Possible for Children to Outgrow Eye Tracking Problems?
An optometrist Dr. Michael Gallaway stated that eye tracking skills are included in the fine motor aspect of vision which should continue to develop as children get older. When a child has a deficiency or developmental delay in their eye-tracking skills, the children do not outgrow their eye-tracking problem. Children must have an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment for them to develop normal eye movements.
There is a proven connection between eye tracking problems and ADD or ADHD according to a scientific study at Tel Aviv University in Israel. The result of the study shows a direct correlation between ADHD and the inability to control eye movement. Parents of children are advised to encourage their children to undergo comprehensive eye exams when they suspect attention disorder to determine how it affects vision.
