{"id":1646,"date":"2012-07-12T14:16:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T13:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T15:03:42","slug":"rethinking-childhood-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/rethinking-childhood-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking childhood vision (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research leads to changes in clinical practice and vision research, improving care for children\u2019s eyesight<\/h2>\n

The very first months of an infant\u2019s life are spent learning to focus, track movement accurately and coordinate the movements of the eyes; this is critical for children\u2019s visual, as well as general development.\u00a0Research conducted over two decades at the University of Reading has increased our understanding of this critical \u2018learning period\u2019 in vision development and better explains the causes of some common childhood eye problems.<\/p>\n

Researching the development of eye co-ordination<\/h3>\n

During the first two months of life about 75% of infants will, occasionally, have brief periods where their eyes point in different directions. Parents can get concerned by this and seek medical advice, which has traditionally led to hospital referrals.<\/p>\n

Research has shown that after four months, only about 3% of infants will continue to have misaligned eyes, and it is only these children that need specialist testing, follow up and treatment. This has led to changes in clinical practice so fewer anxious parents have to attend specialist appointments, reducing healthcare costs.<\/p>\n

Vision problems and treatment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Squint (strabismus, or crossed\/lazy eyes) is a common vision problem in children. Treatment takes many years throughout children\u2019s early development – drawing heavily upon NHS services along the way. Professor Anna Horwood and Professor Patricia Riddell, both from Reading\u2019s School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, research the development of eye co-ordination, and why it sometimes goes wrong. In their unique laboratory they simultaneously measure accommodation \u2013 the eye’s ability to focus on a target so that it is clear \u2013 and convergence \u2013 the ability to align both eyes on a single target.<\/p>\n

Our eyes take cues from the outside world about where things are in space. \u201cBy studying weighting of these visual cues, we can better understand normal development in children, and also how things go wrong,\u201d explains Professor Horwood. \u201cOur research is clarifying why common childhood eye problems are different from each other, and why a particular treatment works well for one child and not another. For example, most children use the different view of an object each eye sees as their main drive to focusing correctly, but some children use how blurry it is instead. Glasses will not correct a squint in the first child, but will in the second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigating the underlying causes of long-sightedness in children<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Long-sightedness is another common vision problem in children, affecting about 5% of children in the UK. Horwood and Riddell are actively investigating the underlying causes, and have demonstrated that the picture is more complicated than previous thought. Their research is investigating when, and how much, long sight should be corrected.<\/p>\n

Horwood and Riddell’s research on childhood squint, and also on long-sightedness, is rapidly affecting clinicians’ diagnostic and management practices through their publications, talks and courses, that are reaching eye doctors, orthoptists and optometrists, world-wide. When surveyed, nearly two-thirds of clinical orthoptists said that Horwood and Riddell’s work was influential to the profession, and four out of five said it had influenced their clinical practice.<\/p>\n

One professional said, after attending a clinical course run by Anna Horwood: \u201cThis was one of the most relevant courses I have done and will change the way I practice to enable us to save appointment time for both patients and doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

An international impact<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The team\u2019s clinical insights have also been incorporated into clinical training in orthoptics and optometry in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA \u2013 equipping future clinicians around the world with clear guidance on the management of many common childhood eye problems such as squint, long-sightedness and eye strain.<\/p>\n

Horwood and Riddell\u2019s expert opinion is sought by a variety of media outlets, and has informed changes to the information being made directly available for parents, reducing unnecessary anxiety. Ninety five percent of websites providing advice for parents who notice that their infant has a squint now incorporate recommendations informed by this research.<\/p>\n

Fast Facts<\/h3>\n