NeuroDevelopmental Movement® and Visual Motor Skills

By Emily Beard Johnson

Learning disabilities create many obstacles that prevent a child from achieving the academic success of which she is capable and can stem from many neurological and environmental factors. As stated in a 2007 study, early academic success is much more reliant on decoding skills and self-regulation ability than intelligence. Additionally, when a child feels frustrated by her early academic experiences, she is at significantly higher risk for a litany of questionable behaviors later in life, including increased use of drugs and alcohol, smoking, and unsafe sex.

This is frustrating for any child or parent; that frustration is compounded when a child’s decoding skills are disproportionate to her intelligence. As found in a groundbreaking 2007 study, one critical decoding skill, eye movement, directly determines our cognitive problem solving, so, as we enhance our eye movement, so will our problem solving improve. A program of NeuroDevelopmental Movement® can address this basic factor that often contributes to poor problem solving and overall diminished decoding skills to promote a child’s best possible chance of academic success.

Visual motor skills are distinct from visual acuity. Visual acuity is what determines how clearly we see; this is what we are familiar with when we have our eyes tested by an optometrist and what is resolved through the use of corrective lenses, such as glasses or contact lenses. Many factors contribute to visual acuity and most of them are not neurologically based. On the other hand, visual motor skills are determined by the signals that the brain sends to the muscles of the eyes, so visual motor skills are neurologically based. Visual motor skills fall into three primary categories: horizontal eye tracking, vertical eye tracking, and convergence, or the eyes working together at near point. When the brain sends poor messaging to the muscles of the eyes, any—or all—of these skills can be impacted. In extreme situations, doctors attempt to correct poor visual motor skills through operating on the muscles of the eyes. Unfortunately, if the brain continues to send the wrong signals to the muscles of the eyes, this manual correction does not always resolve the issue and numerous surgeries can be performed. Because the issue stems from the brain signals, addressing the neurological basis of the issue can be the most effective, and least invasive, approach to correcting poor visual motor skills.

Horizontal eye tracking, or lateral eye movement, is established through completion of the developmental sequence between approximately one to five months of age. At this stage of development, babies lie in a prone position and, when pushing up, track their caregivers’ movement. Smooth horizontal eye tracking is critical for academic success, especially for reading. It is crucial that we track words and letters accurately across the page. If this functionality is not in place, children often skip words or parts of words when reading, or see

only parts of the word and then guess at what it might be. Hence, “cat” might become “cab” or “car,” seriously impairing the child’s ability to comprehend what is being read.

Another common coping mechanism to compensate for poor horizontal eye tracking is to use a finger or ruler to guide one’s place across a line of text. While this can help the individual to track more accurately, it is still a band-aid approach, rather than a resolution of the underlying issue, and requires additional effort and stress when reading, contributing to a child’s overall frustration.

Vertical eye tracking is established through completion of the developmental sequence between approximately six to twelve months of age, when infants are on hands and knees and moving their head vertically through space. Smooth vertical eye tracking is crucial for both tracking lines of text when reading, as well as for math computation. When reading, it is important to accurately transition from one line of text to the next. If this does not occur, the individual’s ability to make sense of the text is seriously impaired. Additionally, math computation requires numbers to be vertically aligned. If poor vertical eye tracking causes the child to misalign numbers, she will not be able to complete the math problem accurately. This is especially frustrating for children who understand the math concepts, but, due to poor vertical eye tracking, are unable to correctly complete the computation. Consequently, her work does not reflect her capability and the frustration increases.

Convergence, or both eyes working together at near point, is another visual motor skill put in place through completion of the developmental sequence, beginning at about six months of age. Convergence is critical for a range of motor skills (specifically, depth perception) as well as reading comprehension and the ability to sustain focus. Researchers have long known that our eyes work together when reading. However, research released in 2007 found that our eyes focus on slightly different parts of a word when reading.

Consequently, convergence is critically important for forming a mental image of what is read and then comprehending the text. As stated by the lead researcher, “We were able to clearly show that we experience a single, very clear and crisp visual representation due to fusion of the two different images from each eye.” If the eyes are not working together, we are unable to form this single visual representation and, consequently, are unable to understand what we’ve read, which significantly impairs academic success. Furthermore, convergence insufficiency (or the eyes not working together at near point) has been linked to the inability to sustain focus and attention. Individuals with convergence insufficiency are more distractible than others. In extreme cases, this leads to the diagnosis of ADHD. As stated by a researcher into this correlation, “We showed that children with the disorder convergence insufficiency are three

times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children without the disorder.” Reading comprehension and the ability to focus and pay attention are decoding skills that are independent of intelligence, but, when absent, can seriously impair academic success.

NeuroDevelopmental Movement® addresses poor visual motor skills through replication of the developmental sequence that should have established this functionality early in life. Because of neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change throughout our lives), replication of the developmental sequence triggers new brain growth and functionality, regardless of our age. Once completed, the brain sends the correct messages to the muscles of the eyes and the visual motor skills work as well as possible, supporting the individual’s intelligence and academic potential. The lead researcher into convergence insufficiency even noted that this is one of the few ocular conditions that responds well to exercises performed at home. Unlike other approaches (including surgery and vision therapy), NeuroDevelopmental Movement® addresses the whole spectrum of issues contributing to the poor visual motor skills so that, once established, the functionality remains in place and related conditions are also resolved.

Learning disabilities present incredible frustrations for both parents and children, especially when the issues seem disproportionate to the child’s intelligence and academic potential. Maximizing decoding skills can resolve barriers to a child’s success and allow her to fully express her academic potential with a minimum of stress and frustration.

Footnotes:

While there are other visual motor skills with neurodevelopmental implications (such as the ability to distinguish facial features’ impact on the mirror neuron system and appreciation of detail within detail), their implications are more emotional and social and less academic and will not be discussed in this article.

C. Blair et al., Child Development, March 2007.

Annette La Greca et al., The Journal of Pediatric Psychology, May 2001.

Alejandro Lleras et al., Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, August 2007.

Simon Liversedge, presented at the BA Festival of Science, September 2007.

David B. Granet, MD, released by the University of California, San Diego, April 2000.

Ibid.