Can my child see? The evaluation of visual function in children

Careful evaluation of all parameters of ocular function are required to delineate the cause of lack of visual responses in children. Any visual fixation, no matter how fleeting, is a sign of intact visual pathways. If no sign of ocular pathology can be found on the routine exam of the visually inattentive child, electrophysiologic testing may be necessary to confirm the presence of abnormality of the visual pathways. In the child with a generalized CNS disorder, the lack of visual response may be due to his inability to respond to visual information (perceptual blindness) rather than to organic pathology in the occipital cortex (cortical blindness).