Children need adequate visual tracking skills to function properly in school and at home. If you have concerns about your child’s visual skills, be sure to start out by having your child undergo a thorough vision examination by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist (medical doctor).
Visual tracking is the ability to control the eye movements using the oculomotor system (vision and eye muscles working together).
There are two types of tracking:
We need to track and follow both stationary and moving objects to interact with our environment. As children get older, this skill is crucial for fluent reading, coordination tasks, body awareness, and postural control.
For reading, your eyes move along written text by fixating on a word and then making a small jump to the next word. If you do not have smooth eye tracking, then you may: skip words, skip lines, move your head too much when reading, use your finger to keep your place when reading, have trouble comprehending what you read or be unable to catch, throw, hit or kick a ball with accuracy.
Looking for visual tracking APPS to make screen time more productive? Try these APPS.