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A test battery of child development for examining functional vision (ABCDEFV)
1Visual Development Unit, Department of Psychology, University College London, UK. j.atkinson@ucl.ac.uk
Insights
This study introduces a comprehensive 22-test battery for assessing functional vision in children aged 0-4 years. It provides normative data to aid in diagnosing and managing visual development disorders.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatric Neurology
- Vision Science
Background:
- Assessing functional vision in infants and young children is crucial for early detection of developmental disorders.
- Existing methods may not comprehensively evaluate the spectrum of visual competences.
- A standardized, integrated assessment is needed for children from birth to four years.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a novel battery of 22 tests for integrated assessment of functional visual capacities in children aged 0-4 years.
- To establish normative data for typically developing children across nine age groups.
- To provide a tool for diagnosis, investigation, management, and rehabilitation of visual development disorders.
Main Methods:
- Developed a battery of 22 tests covering sensory, perceptual, motor, spatial, and cognitive visual functions.
- Included 'core vision tests' for basic assessment and 'additional tests' for specific deficits.
- Collected normative data from 32-43 typically developing children in each of nine age groups (0-6 weeks to 31-36 months).
Main Results:
- Defined pass/fail criteria for each test.
- Identified age-specific test subsets passed by at least 85% of normally developing children.
- Reported normative data enabling the definition of normal visual development.
Conclusions:
- The validated test battery offers a comprehensive approach to assessing visual competences in young children.
- Normative data facilitate the identification of atypical visual development.
- The battery supports clinical guidance for children with developmental disorders.
Abstract:
A battery of 22 tests is described, intended to give an integrated assessment of children's functional visual capacities between birth and four years of age. As well as sensory visual measures such as acuity, visual fields and stereopsis, the battery is intended to tap a range of perceptual, motor, spatial and cognitive aspects of visual function. Tests have been drawn from practice in ophthalmology and orthoptics, vision research, paediatric neurology, and developmental psychology to give an overall view of children's visual competences for guidance in diagnosis, further investigation, management and rehabilitation of children with developmental disorders. 'Core vision tests' require no motoric capacities beyond saccadic eye movements or linguistic skills and so assess basic visual capacities in children of any age. 'Additional tests' have age-specific requirements and are designed to pinpoint specific deficits in the perceptual, visuo-motor and spatio-cognitive domains. Normative data are reported on nine age groups between 0-6 weeks and 31-36 months, each including 32-43 typically developing children. Pass/fail criteria for each test are defined. These data allow the selection of a subset of tests for each age group which are passed by at least 85% of normally developing children, and so are appropriate for defining normal development. The normalized battery has been applied to a range of at-risk and clinical groups. Aspects of children's visual performance are discussed in relation to neurobiological models of visual development.
