Can eye movement skills be modified?
Improvement in eye movement control and efficiency has been reported in individual case studies following vision therapy (75-77). Wold et al (78) reported on 100 consecutive optometric vision therapy patients whose eye movement skills were rated on the Heinsen-Schrock Performance Scale (79). This is a 10-point observational scale for scoring saccadic and pursuit eye movement performance. Only 6% of the children passed the eye movement portion prior to therapy. Post-therapy reevaluation revealed that 96% of the children were able to pass. Heath (80) discussed the influence of ocular-motor proficiency on reading. Sixty third and fourth graders who scored below the 40th percentile on the Metropolitan Reading Test and failed the ocular pursuit subtest of the Purdue Perceptual Motor Survey were divided into control and experimental groups. Results of the study showed significant improvement in ocular pursuit ability for the experimental compared to the control group. In addition, those chil
