Our kids can have challenges around visual stimming (i.e., looking from the corner of their eye, hyper focusing on something like a pattern or a color, or simply scrolling past it too quick).
I remember when I was working on my son's ability to follow instructions, I would give him simple 1 step instructions. And at times, he would scan too quickly, and miss things that were right under his nose, like shoes/plate/toy etc. He would just scan too quickly. He also had a fondness of spinning occasionally and really enjoyed the feedback he would get of being dizzy as well as looking from the corner of his eye. Another example was skipping lines when reading and not being able to track left to right very smoothly.
Some of the reasons why this takes place is:
- Retained Reflexes
- The need for visual feedback i.e., visual stims
- The weak coordination of the eye movement/tracking
- Vitamin A Deficiency (usually observed in kids that like to side gaze)
Here is what parents can do at home to strengthen the visual spatial skills as well as improve the eye coordination for reading and seeing. These are easy to do and can be done multiple times in a day at home. The only main challenge is motivating the child to do this. My suggestion is to turn this into a game and be involved in the activity too! My top suggestions are:
- Pass the ball: Using a colorful ball back and forth between the two of you. Even better if the ball can light up. This can be done on the floor.
- Bounce the Ball: Using a soft ball hanging from a string from a height. Taking turns touching the ball softly with your forehead to swing it. You will need to model/demo this a few times to show exactly how this is done. If this is too difficult you can also just swing the ball from side to side and help your child to track it.
- Pencil Tracking: I add an interesting looking eraser at the tip to give a reason to look at the pencil and track from left to right, and right to left. This will also reveal if one side is weaker than the other. Make a note of that.
- Play the Pirate game: You can use an eye patch to focus on one eye at a time, while doing the exercises so you can isolate and strengthen it individually. As mentioned, you mind find one eye needs more support than the other.
- Eye Light: If you find that one side of the eyes is showing more weakness than the other, you can also use colors to stimulate the brain at the same time. Take a slim torch or a pen light (please don't use phones!) and wrap colored paper around the light (For Left brain weakness: use color red, orange and yellow. For Right brain weakness: use color blue, indigo and violet)
- Drawing Lazy 8's: You can do this one on a chalk board using various colors of chalks and make this fun. Draw a big figure 8. Do it together as this might require some assistance. You can be creative and use a ribbon on a stick to do this with.
- Finger puppets: You can use finger puppets to get your child to look at different characters as you make them wiggle and talk, that will assist in shifting eyes from one object to the other.
- Address Vitamin A Deficiency: Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant most recognized for eye health. It is also essential throughout life for proper brain function, specifically for gene regulation, neuron production and in the communication network of the brain. Long term supplementation with vitamin A can cause toxicity, so getting vitamin A from food sources is preferred. However, cod liver oil is a good choice also. Always do the blood work and consult a doctor before supplementing.
Now that you understand what you are focusing on, you can get creative and invent your own games! Most importantly have fun doing these. If you find doing them is a chore, our kids will find them most boring! So unless you're not having some fun doing them, don't expect them. Change it up often!! Always praise the effort! These require a level of concentration and are not easy for our kids, so be patient and motivate them with praise and love. Some more ideas are in the comments below.
Happy healing!
Contributed by:
Batool Mirza
