Clinical assessment of visual functions in infants and young children

We report our experience with 2 new methods of assessing visual functions in children: grating acuity determination by means of preferential looking technique and contrast sensitivity measurements. Acuity determinations with preferential looking proved useful for evaluation of the effects of amblyopia treatment in young children (0-3 years) with esotropia and for monitoring visual development in children operated early for congenital cataract. We have also used these methods successfully for diagnostic acuity determinations in very young children or in older but mentally retarded children with suspected visual impairment. In 4-year-old children contrast thresholds were determined for sine wave gratings of different spatial frequencies displayed on an oscilloscope screen. The results were less reproducible than those obtained earlier in somewhat older children, and did not correlate as well as the results of other visual tests as in the older children.