Vision

Your sense of vision is one of the most dominant senses. It works by detecting light which our brain then processes and interprets. In well functioning vision we are able to distinguish, light, colour, images, depth and movement amongst other things.

In some children (and adults) who struggle with sensory issues or retained primitive reflexes this sense may not be working at its’ optimal level. I will try to go through some of the issues they may face, but due to the amount of information our eyes take in it will not be a comprehensive list, unfortunately. As I work exclusively with children I am writing it for children, but in adults it is very possible to see these same issues.

Some children may struggle with oversensitivity to light. Shopping centres, schools and hospitals are full of florescent lights which only exacerbate the problem. Fluorescent lights are also linked to eye strain due to flickering and they have been found to add to stress and anxiety.

Children who struggle in this area may also have an altered interpretation of depth perception. They may be seeing things in 2D, which can impact how they relate and react to their surroundings. It can add to issues of children walking into chairs, walls etc or being extremely unsure of heights.

Visual processing may be impacted. Can you interpret correctly what you see? Does a ‘d’ look like a ‘b’, are letters backwards? Upsidedown etc? This can make learning to read extremely challenging.

Figure ground effect: This Separate things from background. Foreground, middle and background all blend together. This can make it extremely difficult to copy from the board, since they are unable to separate the letters from the blackboard/ whiteboard.

Now think of contrast, contrast can mean difficulty with patterns and shapes on clothes, but also the contrast of black ink on white paper. Difficulties with contrast will add to reading difficulties.

We never think much about our field of vision when it is working correctly, but for a child struggling with their peripheral vision they may be able to see significantly further than their shoulders behind them. This can be problematic as they are always on high alert. Looking both in front and behind and never relaxing into their environment.

There may, in some people be a difficulty with either horizontal or vertical tracking ,or indeed both. This will make reading challenging since they are unable to correctly follow a line of text. Their gaze cannot follow the whole line so they may be reading words from above or below the line they are on. We can also see this in vertical math problems, they can’t follow the line down so can’t correctly complete the math problem.

Now when some of these issues come into play we may also see difficulties with hand eye tracking which will of course add to problems in the classroom environment.

If you notice any of these struggles with your child then an INPP reflex integration program may significantly improve their issues. We have had great success with improving everything on the list post reflex integration. If you feel that your child’s challenges relate only to a difficulty in the visual field, you may also want to look for a local behavioural optometrist.