This book provides a comprehensive overview of vision problems in children with developmental disabilities such as AD/HD, autism spectrum disorders, and specific learning disabilities. Written in a very accessible style, it is appropriate for parents and professionals alike and offers non-technical explanations of how vision difficulties are screened for and advice on where to seek appropriate professional care. Lisa Kurtz outlines a range of activities for strengthening children's functional vision and perceptual skills using simple, homemade materials that are readily available in the home or classroom. This is an excellent practical companion for parents of children with visual perception problems and the professionals who work with them.

Importance of vision to learning and development and the
purpose of the book

Vision is commonly described as a child's unique window to the world. More than any other sense, the gift of sight exposes a child to a multitude of experiences that are critical in shaping his or her learning and behavior. Vision is a dynamic process that is far more complex than just being able to see clearly when looking at a stationary object, such as an eye chart. Vision involves looking at multiple stimuli that are constantly changing in time and space, and then being able to interpret the meaning and importance of those stimuli. In order for vision to provide the child with meaningful information, the eyes and their related structures must see clearly, they must move and adjust focus on targets that move in space so that lighting and background are constantly changing, they must attend to relevant detail and ignore irrelevant detail, and they must transmit that information to the brain without distortion. Once this visual information reaches the brain, the brain must interpret or make sense of the information, a process referred to by several different terms, including visual perception, visual information processing, and visual cognition. For the purposes of this book, the term visual perception will be used to refer to the brain's interpretation of visual input. The quality of a child's vision and visual perception affects all aspects of a child's physical, intellectual, emotional, and social growth.

Much has been written about the impact of blindness or serious vision difficulties in children, and how to help these children to learn optimally in a world that deprives them of critical sensory experiences. Less has been written about children who see clearly, but have more subtle vision difficulties that impact . . .