What does vision have to do with coordination?
In one word, EVERYTHING! Eyesight and vision are not the same thing. Eyesight is in the eyes, which determine how clearly we can see something. Vision is in the brain, which tells us where something is positioned. Vision is really perception, and it is quite possible to have perfect eyesight but distorted perception. Vision helps us figure out how to move our bodies in space. “Hand-eye coordination” is not an inborn talent; it is a skill. Vision, too, is a skill, and skills are trainable. Children develop their visual skills naturally when they play and explore the real world.
Unfortunately, many of modern conveniences prevent children from exploring the world around them by interfering with the two critical components—body movement and perception—of the real, three-dimensional world. Babies today often live in buckets, such as car seats, strollers, and swings. Newborn humans have eyes, but their immature visual systems aren’t really able to focus well or direct their gazes voluntarily.
When babies begin to see and notice things, they get excited and begin to move their arms and legs because they have not yet developed motor control. Often, their excitement turns to frustration and fussiness because they want to see and explore, but they don’t yet have the physical maturity to hold their heads steady and upright. Our response is to “prop up” the baby, which decreases their frustration, as well as their inner drive to master their bodies and the environment. When a baby learns to direct a spoonful of food to his mouth, visual learning is taking place. While he may appear clumsy or messy, in reality he just hasn’t yet mastered those brain-based, visual skills.
Think about what is involved in learning to feed one’s self without starving or creating a mess. Visual knowing involves three tasks: babies must learn where the mouth is, where the spoon or food is, and how to negotiate the space between those two things. A baby’s visual brain directs these movements and develops his skill as he becomes more accurate and precise in his movements.
Before the baby knows exactly where his mouth is, we get a lot of oatmeal seemingly everywhere but the mouth. That’s because the baby knows APPROXIMATELY where his mouth and hand with the spoon are but needs a lot a trial and error before he knows EXACTLY where they are. After that, spoon to mouth becomes easy, automatic, and basically effortless.
Children with perceptual problems often just have a calibration error; things aren’t where they seem to be. That’s why they can’t quite catch the ball, or they bump into things or trip. Negotiating the terrain and objects around them is therefore a little hazardous and unpredictable, and they must always exercise caution, which is a stressful and inefficient process. They lose confidence when they compare themselves with other kids who seem to do things more easily. Practice doesn’t help much because they must PERCEIVE correctly before they can practice correctly.
If vision problems are so common, why aren’t they recognized and treated more often?
We are born with a mouth but cannot talk, with feet but cannot walk, and with eyes but cannot see. It takes a year or two to master these skills. If a child doesn’t learn to walk or talk at the expected age, parents will notice and intervene; but if he has normal eyesight but poor vision, parents have no way of knowing this. We must learn to spot the clues, like clumsiness, so that the kids (or adults!) can get the help they need. Research tells us that about one in four school-age children have undiagnosed vision problems that affect their performance in school and in life. A recent study concluded that clumsy children (even those of normal weight) are up to four times more likely to suffer from adult obesity. Clumsiness is a clue; please don’t ignore it.
For more information about detecting and dealing with visual problems in children you can visit the Parents Active for Vision Education (PAVE) website http://www.pavevision.org/. It’s never too late or too early to help children help themselves.
