Your baby's developing sight
The wonders of the world are often first encountered through the eyes of a child. Yet without good vision, a child's ability to learn about the world becomes more difficult. Vision problems affect one in 20 preschoolers and one in four school-age children. Since many vision problems begin at an early age, it is very important that children receive proper eye care. Untreated eye problems can worsen and lead to other serious problems as well as affect learning ability, personality and adjustment in school.
Development of VisionThe acuity (sharpness of vision) of newborns is less than fully developed. They usually prefer looking at close objects, and are especially attracted to faces and by objects that are brightly colored or of high contrast and moving. By this age, most babies can smoothly follow a moving object and can hold their eyes on it even when the object stops. The colors, details and moving parts of mobiles in cribs fascinate infants and help stimulate their visual development. By now, the retina of the eye is quite well developed, and the baby's visual acuity is good enough to permit small details to be seen. The infant is able to look from near to far and back to near again. Judgment of distances (depth perception) is also developing. At 6 months of age, the eye has reached about two thirds of its adult size. Usually by this stage, the two eyes are fully working together, resulting in good binocular vision. Distance vision and depth perception are still improving. By the age of one, a child's vision is well on its way toward full development. Coordination of the eyes with the hands and body are naturally practiced by children and can be enhanced by games involving pointing, grasping, tossing, placing and catching. The preschooler is typically eager to draw and look at pictures. Stories connected to pictures, drawings and symbols often captivate the child and help to coordinate hearing and vision. |
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