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[Visual milestones and child development]
L Thun-Hohenstein1, M Steinlin, R H Largo
1Universitätskinderklinik Zürich.
Insights
Visual development milestones are key for assessing infant vision. Eye-hand coordination in infants correlates with neurological optimality and predicts later cognitive functions.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
Context:
- Assessing visual development in infants often relies on developmental milestones.
- Early visual function assessment is crucial for identifying potential developmental delays.
Purpose:
- To investigate the emergence of eye-hand coordination and visuo-motor skills in healthy term and preterm infants.
- To explore correlations between neurological optimality, visual milestones, and later cognitive abilities.
Summary:
- The study assessed the initial appearance of eye-hand coordination and visuo-motor functions in healthy term and preterm infants using the Griffith's Developmental Test.
- While term infants showed a slight, non-significant advantage, no sex differences were observed.
- Neurologic optimality score demonstrated significant correlations with visual milestone development.
Impact:
- Findings highlight the predictive value of early visual-motor skills for cognitive development.
- Establishes the utility of specific developmental assessments in monitoring infant visual pathways.
- Provides normative data for eye-hand coordination milestones in healthy infants.
Abstract:
Frequently, the milestones of visual development are the only available parameter of visual functions in newborns and small infants. The subscale eye-hand-coordination of Griffith's Developmental Test and some single items of visuo-motor functions were assessed concerning their first occurrence in healthy AGA term and preterm infants. Term and preterm infants differed constantly, but not significantly, in favour of the term children. No sex differences could be documented. Neurologic optimality score showed significant correlations with development of visual milestones. The Griffiths subscore at 9 and 24 months showed good correlations with later cognitive functions.