Early detection of significant vision problems in children is a high priority for pediatricians and school nurses. Routine vision screening is a necessary part of that detection and has traditionally involved acuity charts. However, photoscreening in which "red eye" is elicited to show whether each eye is focusing may outperform routine acuity…

Studies have suggested attention-free semantic processing of natural scenes in which concurrent tasks leave category detection unimpaired (e.g., F. Li, R. VanRullen, C. Koch, & P. Perona, 2002). Could this ability reflect detection of disjunctive feature sets rather than high-level binding? Participants detected an animal target in a rapid serial…

Background: Intraocular surgery in patients with intellectual disability can be hazardous. Our aim was to determine the outcomes of surgery on all such patients seen in a consultant-led service, and to assess the overall risks and benefits. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients with moderate to severe intellectual…

The self-concept and quality of friendship of 40 adolescents with visual impairments (20 in public schools and 20 in a residential school) were compared to those of 41 sighted adolescents. The findings indicate a similar self-concept profile for sighted adolescents and adolescents with visual impairments, although the scores of the participants…

A U.S. Air Force study was designed to investigate simultaneously four cognitive styles--field dependence-independence, reflectivity-impulsivity, leveling-sharpening, and visual-haptics. A sample of 206 undergraduate volunteers at the University of Oklahoma were tested with the Successive Perceptual Test I (SPT-I), the Hidden Figures Test (HFT),…

A 3-year study concerning teaching a phonics-oriented kindergarten readiness program of letter recognition and beginning consonant sounds was discussed. Sixty-eight children attending kindergarten in a suburban middle and upper-middle class community composed the sample. The experimental group consisted of 33 children; the control group consisted…

Visual fixations were recorded in newborn, 4-, and 8-week-old human infants as they scanned displays that varied in contour length, size, number, and a new metric, CVAL (based on Contour Variability, Amount and Location). One of the findings was that both contour length and CVAL separately accounted for approximatel1 95 of looking-duration…

Six hearing-impaired and 14 hearing adults, all with normal vision, viewed segments of captioned movies on television under 5 conditions of blur. The study found that, if a person has even a slight visual problem, the caption letters under normal television viewing conditions are too small for maximum reading performance. (Author/JDD)

Strabismus and amblyopia are two common childhood vision conditions requiring early identification and treatment. Screening devices include external examination of the eye, ability to track, a cover test, acuity tests, and stereoscopic tests. Treatment includes patching therapy, use of glasses, orthoptics, CAM vision stimulator, or a combination…

The visual acuity of 8 children, aged 2-7, with low vision and multiple handicaps was effectively tested using the Teller Acuity Cards and a preferential-looking procedure with operant modification. This inexpensive procedure was found to be suitable for at-home testing by itinerant vision specialists in developing countries or rural areas. (DB)

This article describes addition of a "learn a routine" procedure to functional visual assessments of children with severe neurological and physical disabilities. The procedure capitalizes on the child's interest of the moment and provides information on the child's patterns of responses, ability to accommodate to variations of a stimulus, and…

A low vision clinic is using Fresnel press-on prism lenses to aid veterans with extremely restricted visual fields. (Author/SB)

A collection of papers on teaching English listening comprehension includes: "The Use of Authentic Sound Materials for Beginners" (Anuska Nakic); "Empathetic Listening" (Mario Rinvolucri); "The Pedagogic Authenticity of a Text" (Henri Besse); "A Team-Teaching Approach to Lecture Comprehension for Overseas Students" (A. Dudley-Evans, T. F. Johns);…

Witkin's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) was used to measure the changes with age in field dependence and problem-solving ability. Qualitative data concerning problem-solving strategies and quantitative data were collected. EFT was administered to 12 females in each of the following decades: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. All subjects were moderately…

Vision assessment in multiply impaired children (ages 3-19, n=50) was studied by evaluating questionnaires completed by the psychological services responsible for determining their educational requirements. Relatively few conducted assessments of visual functioning but chose instead to determine level of visual impairment from medical,…