Measuring the impact of training of Visual Saccadic Competence on the Reading Ability of Youth with Oculomotor Dysfunction in Mainstreamed Regular Schools

Abstract

Accurate eye movements are needed for effective reading. Inefficient eye movements such as poor gaze fixation or saccadic skills indicate the oculomotor dysfunction. Oculomotor dysfunction is a key factor of poor reading skills among the youth. The training of saccadic skills of the children with oculomotor dysfunction ameliorates their reading capability. The present research measured the impact of training of visual saccadic competence on the reading ability of Youth with Oculomotor Dysfunction in mainstreamed regular schools at primary level. King Devick online test was administered on the children having poor reading skills. The below average accuracy on the test indicated the oculomotor dysfunction among the children. The NSUCO Oculomotor Test designed at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, Florida was applied to measure the level of visual saccadic ability among the youth before and after the intervention. The study sample of twenty children with oculomotor dysfunction was randomly selected. The sample was divided into two cohorts having 10 participants in experimental cohort and 10 in the control. The eye movement training in terms of saccadic exercises was presented to the participants of experimental cohort for consecutive 6 weeks with 50 minutes per day session on daily basis. Words Correct Per Minute Method was used to assess the reading ability of both groups before and after the intervention from selected paragraphs of the books of Punjab Textbook Board Lahore. Statistical analysis on the basis of scores of both the Experimental Group and Control group was made by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to make a comparison between both of the groups. A highly significant difference was noted in the combined scores of both groups, F (1, 17)=11.65, p=0.003. The values of partial eta squared=0.407 showed that the effect size was large. The mean reading ability score of the experimental group (M=64.0, SE= 1.16) was greater than the Control Group (M=58.3, SE=1.16) which indicated a difference of 5.7 words per minute reading rate among the groups. The results of the study depicted that there was a significant effect (p<0.05) of the training of visual saccadic competence on the reading ability of Youth with Oculomotor Dysfunction.