Eye movement analysis: reading and moving target pursuit

Pediatric ophthalmology and childhood reading difficulties: Amblyopia and slow reading

Reading is a major life activity, as recognized by the US Congress in the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, and the education code of most US states requires schools to evaluate reading and implement reading programs to addresses students' reading difficulties. Currently, such legislation is employed to identify accommodations needed for children with bilateral visual impairment and for children with dyslexia and/or related learning disabilities. Yet recent research has shown that children with the most common form of monocular visual impairment-amblyopia-read slowly. Slow reading can be detrimental to academic performance and learning, which in turn may affect self-esteem. Parents and educators can work together to implement accommodations (eg, extra time) to help amblyopic students succeed in their daily school tasks, and improve their performance on the timed, standardized tests that are critical for promotion and admission to magnet schools, TAG programs, high schools, and colleges. Children with other visual disorders that cause visual impairment in one eye (eg, glaucoma, cataract, trauma, etc) should also be considered for academic accommodations.

A Signal Analysis Technique of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Stimulated with Impulsive Head Movements

Eye movements have been investigated in several areas of medicine and also elsewhere, such as in psychology or even in the development of human-computer interfaces. In the last few years we have designed a technique to stimulate, measure and analyze vestibulo-ocular reflex eye movements. In the otoneurological literature these are seen as a novel and promising means of revealing certain disorders and diseases associated with vertigo. Vestibulo-ocular reflex is stimulated by impulsive head movements. We developed the present pattern recognition technique to detect the stimulus (impulsive head movements) and the vestibulo-ocular reflex (response eye movements) generated from signals and to compute the latency and the gain values between them. Using our technique to calculate these attributes, we obtained clearly different results for a group of 22 dizzy patients than for a group of 30 healthy subjects.

A microcomputer system for clinical signal analysis of vestibular laboratory

A vestibular laboratory system was implemented for clinical testing and medical examination of patients with balance disorders. Programs for analysis of postural control and eye movements were made for a microcomputer. The microcomputer system can be used by a nurse without technical education. The system has now been used for two years at the laboratory.

A detailed study of sequential saccadic eye movements for normal- and poor-reading children

This paper presents the results of an in-depth study of parameters characterizing sequenced saccadic eye movements for a group of dyslexic children and a comparative normal control group with ages in the range greater than 8.0 yr. and less than 13.0 yr. No parameters were statistically different for the two groups, which supports the findings of Brown, et al. and contradicts the findings of Pavlidis. Our results indicate that sequenced saccadic eye movements are not diagnostically useful for early detection of dyslexia.

Smooth pursuit eye movements in normal and dyslexic children

This paper describes a detailed study of horizontal eye movements associated with visual tracking of a smoothly moving target. Essentially all children, even at target velocities as low as 5 degrees/sec., show some saccadic eye movements superimposed on smooth tracking movements. Detailed analysis of pursuit eye-movements from a group of 26 poor readers and 34 normal controls (8 to 13 yr.) showed that about 25% of poor readers have an abnormally raised saccadic component in smooth pursuit. This suggests that studies of eye movements during tracking of smoothly moving targets at low velocity, combined with a quantitative approach to data analysis, may be useful for early detection of a significant proportion of poor-reading children.