Babies aren’t born with the ability to accurately and smoothly direct their eye movements; it’s something they learn over time. Eventually, good visual tracking skills allow us to follow a line of print without losing our place.
My son Rob had poor visual tracking, and we ended up seeing a behavioral ophthalmologist and doing “eye exercises” every day. At first, he had to hold a bookmark under each line of his reading books, so that his eyes wouldn’t jump to the next line accidentally. As his tracking improved, he could read without the marker.
Here’s a fun game to play with your baby to assist with developing visual tracking skills:
- Take your baby and a flashlight into a dark room. (At night before bed is a natural time, and this activity is very relaxing.)
- Lie down on your backs. Shine the flashlight slowly around the walls and ceiling and encourage your little one to track the light. Point to the moving light. “Can you see the light? Where is it going?”
- Turn on some favorite music. Move the light with the tempo – faster or slower as it changes, or “long” or “short” to match the music.
- Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Turn the flashlight on and off with the words “twinkle, twinkle”. For the rest of the lines, leave the light on as you move it around the walls and ceiling as before.
I will warn you, however, that as your baby gets older, he or she may demand a flashlight to play with, too, and that’s okay!
-posted by Miss Analiisa, who knows that toddlers and preschoolers love this game as well.
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