Viewing Strategy Training in Children With (Cerebral) Visual Impairment: From Spontaneous Eye Movements to a Structured Viewing Strategy

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying how children with normal vision, ocular visual impairment, and cerebral visual impairment (CVI) use viewing strategies to process visual information. The study aims to understand differences in these strategies among these groups and to evaluate if training can improve how children process visual information. This project addresses a gap in scientific evidence about the effectiveness of viewing strategy training, which is often used in clinical practice but not yet proven. Children in the study receive viewing strategy training lasting six weeks, with sessions twice a week for 30 minutes each. During training, they learn specific ways to look at visual tasks, including structured gaze direction, zooming in and out, and improving visual discrimination. The training follows a set protocol and uses verbal instructions and exercises supported by a textbook documenting children's reactions. The study has two groups: an early training group and a late training group, each with scheduled assessments at baseline, shortly after training, and follow-up periods up to eight months. Participants will be assessed through measures including reading accuracy and speed, visual search accuracy and speed, and eye movement patterns such as saccade amplitude and fixation duration. Additional tests evaluate visual processing speed and selective attention. These assessments occur at multiple time points depending on the group, with follow-ups up to eight months after training. The study includes children aged 5 to 12 years, and researchers will monitor progress to understand how training affects visual processing over time.

Viewing Strategy Training in Children With (Cerebral) Visual Impairment