Oculomotor Training Improves Reading Eye Movement

August 2, 2020 updated by: Carly Lam, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Children with reading eye movement problems were recruited for this study. The treatment group was provided with oculomotor training for 8 weeks, the control group was given placebo exercises.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Purpose of study Reading is one of the integral elements for learning and poor readers were reported to have less efficient reading eye movements. They were typically characterized by having higher number in fixation and regression, reduced reading speed and perceptual span. The purpose of this study was to investigate if vision therapy which limited to training of oculomotor skills can improve reading eye movement.

Methodology This was a randomized, prospective study. 30 subjects aged from 8-9 years of age with reading difficulties and reading eye movement problems were recruited. They all have normal intelligence and ocular health, but failed to meet the Taylor reading eye movement norms when tested with the Visagraph III. The subjects were randomly assigned into either the treatment group (15) or the control group (15). The treatment group had to go through a course of oculomotor vision therapy and the control group was given placebo exercises. Vision therapy for the treatment group involved 8 weeks of training (office training - 3 times a week, 30 min per session; home training - 4 times a week, 30 min per session). Office training involved the use of Vis-Flex (Visual Flexibility Trainer - an electronic device with L.E.D. lights which can display various flashing patterns at variable speeds). Home training involved several saccadic eye movement exercises. Subjects and parents were also asked to grade the reading symptoms checklist before and after the training.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

4 years to 5 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Reported by teachers or parents to have reading difficulties and failed to meet the Taylor reading eye movement norms when tested with the Visagraph III (below age norm for both fixation and regression number).
  • Studying in mainstream primary schools (8-9 years of age)
  • With normal near visual acuities for both eyes (with or without spectacles)
  • Hyperopia below +4.00 D
  • Myopia below -4.00 D
  • Astigmatism below -2.00 D
  • Anisometropia less than 2.0 D difference between the two eyes
  • Near heterophoria within 0-4 exophoria
  • Vertical heterophoria less than 1 prism dioptre
  • Monocular amplitude of accommodation over 10 D in both eyes
  • With parents who were willing to perform vision therapy exercises for the children at home on a regular basis
  • Both genders were acceptable as Eden et al (1994) stated that gender had no effect on oculomotor skills

Exclusion criteria:

  • With strabismus
  • Presence of eye diseases
  • History of dyslexia (learning disability) or developmental delay

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: experimental
oculomotor training
Other: oculomotor training
a sequence of vision training exercises which focused mainly in oculomotor skill
Placebo Comparator: control
placebo vision training exercises
Other: placebo
placebo vision training exercises involving minimal accommodation and vergence eye movement.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in number of fixation and regression during reading after 8 weeks of oculomotor training
Time Frame: 8 weeks
number of fixation and regression is measured by Visagraph per 100 words
8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in reading rate during reading after 8 weeks of oculomotor training
Time Frame: 8 weeks
reading rate in number of words/min and fixation duration measured in seconds
8 weeks
Change in perceptual span (words per fixation) during reading after 8 weeks of oculomotor training
Time Frame: 8 weeks
perceptual span measured in words per fixation
8 weeks
Change in fixation duration (seconds) during reading after 8 weeks of oculomotor training
Time Frame: 8 weeks
fixation duration measured in seconds
8 weeks
Change in symptom scores after 8 weeks of oculomotor training
Time Frame: 8 weeks
symptom scores is calculated with a scale of 0 to 4 for all the 8 items of manifested symptoms
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carly SY Lam, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 30, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

September 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 17, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 30, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

December 5, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 4, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 2, 2020

Last Verified

August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HongKongPUVT

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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