Eye Tracking Problems

The eyes are our windows to the world. They collect all the visual information and transmit it to the brain for processing. Vision is the ability to understand what is seen. In order to read properly two things are required. One is visual acuity which is clarity and ability to have sharp focus. The so-called 20/20 eyesight means a person is able to see clearly at a distance of 20 feet. The other important visual skill that is required is binocular coordination, which is the ability to coordinate the two eyes together and make them work as a team. Eye tracking problems arise when there is a lack of coordination between the two eyes. As a result of this, a person is unable to read with ease and has difficulty in moving his/her eyes smoothly and quickly.

Eye tracking problems are mostly seen among children and may take the form of Exophoria or Esophoria. In Exophoria, also known as under-convergence, the eyes develop a tendency to deviate in an outward direction. Due to this, the person is unable to focus while reading. He/she is unable to turn their eyes inwards. Extra effort and energy is required to focus the eyes together, which leads to eye-strain and difficulty in reading for long duration. In case of Esophoria, the eyes have a tendency to move inwards because of which the person sees things smaller than what they actually are. It is also called over-convergence. Various difficulties arise in reading because of eye tracking problems. Symptoms, mainly among children, are as follows.

Symptoms of Eye Tracking Issues

• Inability to read for long durations, because of excessive difficulty in concentrating, leading to eye fatigue.
• Motion sickness, feeling a bit queasy or dizzy when reading for some extended period of time, developing headache or rubbing the eyes frequently after reading.
• Needing to run a finger underneath the lines while reading.
• Reading the same line again or missing out some of the lines.
• Words appearing to be blurred or floating around.
• Frequently needing to close one eye while reading or turning the head at an angle to focus on the print with one eye.
• Difficulty in copying down words and sentences from the blackboard/whiteboard.

Eye tracking problems and reading difficulties are closely related. Children generally display one or more of these symptoms, in their classroom while studying. Children with these problems tend to lag behind in studies. They are often seen to be putting their heads down in between studies or looking out of the window. It is difficult for them to keep up with the rest of the class. They may also keep bumping into walls or furniture or will have difficulty in playing sports. Sometimes, these symptoms are mistaken for either attention deficit disorder or dyslexia which is a learning disability.

Causes of Eye Tracking Issues

When we read, our eyes don't move in a smooth motion; rather, we make some jumps and pauses. The small jumps between groups of words or sentences are called saccades, while the pauses are called fixation. After each fixation, we move our eyes onto the next group of words. Thus, reading consists of a series of saccades and fixations. The coordination of these is done by our central and peripheral visual systems. The central visual system focuses on what the eye is looking at, i.e., the words in front of the eyes. The peripheral visual system simultaneously looks at the surrounding objects and tells us where to look. So, while reading, the central vision processes the words, and the peripheral vision locates the following words, telling us where to look next. If this coordination between the central and peripheral vision is not continuous and fluid, the result is eye tracking problems. That is why reading becomes jerky and comprehension is poor.

Eye tracking problems are very serious and shouldn't be neglected because they affect the psyche and self-esteem of a child. However, you needn't despair if your child has them, because most of them can be cured with the help of visual therapy. There are many eye tracking exercises for children which are increasingly being advocated by developmental or behavioral optometrists. These are indeed effective in curing eye problems. All that is required is early diagnosis of the problem and timely treatment by way of therapy, as well as giving emotional support to the child.