Are visual inefficiencies effecting your learning?

Do you keep losing your place when you read?

Is your notepad blurry after looking at the white board?

Is it hard to copy from the board?

Do you see two cricket balls instead of one?

Visual system

inefficiencies may result in images that are blurry, doubled, or that appear to move. This makes almost everything we do challenging because we rely so heavily on our vision – both in the classroom and out. As a parent this can be frustrating because you don’t understand why your child struggles to do seemingly simple things. The importance of eyesight in learning and behaviour is well recognised, and children are tested regularly on visual acuity. But visual health goes far beyond 20/20 vision. The ability of the eyes to work together to focus on a single point (binocularity) and to move smoothly over a line of print (visual tracking) are crucial to success in all academic areas, in many extracurricular activities, and in social interaction; additionally, they are crucial to a person’s ability to attend comfortably and to participate in all sport involving movement of any kind.

Visual system efficiency requires support from muscle tone and balance systems. In turn, visual system efficiency influences the auditory, tactile and body in space (proprioception) systems to help form accurate perceptions of one’s self and environment. This in turn influences processing and behaviour in and outside of the classroom. For example, when the eyes can’t track or focus because muscle tone is low, reading may use more energy, eyes may feel strained, and the individual might therefore rub his eyes or look out the window. . . a myriad of different behaviours can result in the child’s effort to deal with this inefficiency.

You might be starting to see how each of the ways the brain takes in information influences the other senses and pathways into the brain. When the visual system is strengthened and optimised the learner will have a different relationship with learning, arts and sports.

Take the quiz to see if your learner’s visual system is working efficiently:

To learn more about the visual system and how you as a parent or educator can support others to build learning efficiency, we invite you to attend a two day comprehensive course:

In Mildura In other locations

While attending Solutions to Todays Problems, introductory course Levels 1 and 2, you as a parent or teacher will learn how to identify the neurodevelopment systems that are at the root of behavioural, social and academic concerns. With this understanding you will be able to implement the large range of tools you will also gain from attending. The course will offer you a new perspective on neurodevelopment and brain function that is empowering, respectful, and effective. Implementing the HANDLE paradigm has moved thousands of people worldwide from dysfunction to function.

“The integration of personal experiences with theories of the HANDLE approach, explanation of how activities relate to specific cases/ behaviours, presentation of material not just power point slides, performing activities throughout to help consolidate information and being given ‘freedom’ to relax, move around during the presentation of information made the course work well for me. It just makes sense! Very clear presentation of information.”

~ Katherine Smith, Psychologist, Western Australia.