Perceiving, analyzing and understanding the world around us… neurovision, a discipline at the juncture of neurology and ophthalmology, it is one of COP9’s specialties. Dr. Stéphanie Zwillinger and her multidisciplinary team present this field and its impact on child development. Learn more about neurovision? COP9 presents its coordinated medical process at the end of the article!
What is neurovision?
The ability to detect, identify and recognize is carried out in the visual areas of our brain. It is important to know that a brain lesion in the visual areas does not always cause a visual handicap, such as blindness: the vision is preserved, but the neurovision is affected. The eye, the organ as such, is not affected, unlike the neurovisual field.
Coordination disorder, attention deficiency, psychomotor disorders, school difficulties and Dys disorders can bring you to a diagnosis. The neurovisual disorder is invisible on imaging, which can cause a lengthy medical search.
Combining the disciplines of ophthalmology and neurology, neurovision is a problem that affects approximately 30% of school-aged children during their first years at school, according to the National Association for the Improvement of Sight (Asnav). The neurovisual disorder causes learning disabilities in about 3% of them (Vision and Cognition).
Neurovision and child development
Neurovision concerns the visual modality of the child, from a very young age. They will perceive, analyze and understand the world around them.
During this learning process, if there is a deficiency in the control of the oculomotor command, disorders will develop in three areas.
Children with neurovisual disorders may have difficulties in motor development. The child will have difficulty understanding objects and perspective, and their visual field will be reduced. They will lose interest in fine motor activities. By reducing manipulations and games, so important in their oculo-motor and neurological development, motor disorders (dyspraxia) may appear. A psychomotor examination as well as a follow-up will then allow the child to compensate for the difficulties, or even to overcome them!
Behavioral development will also be affected. Neurovision plays an important role in social learning, such as a language acquisition disorder (dysphasia) or attention disorder (ADHD). In the face of many academic difficulties, the child’s behavior will change. It may suggest hyperactivity or require therapeutic monitoring. But with adapted and targeted complementary examinations, a good medical follow-up care mixing pediatric ophthalmology, combined with orthoptics and psychomotor therapy will bring efficient solutions in the long term to the child.
Neurovision is a neurological and visual field that affects the development of academic learning. The child will have difficulties in controlling ocular saccades and fixing points. The disorders affect the learning of reading, spelling (dyslexia and dysorthography), writing (dysgraphia) and mathematics (dyscalculia). Neurovision affects the processes of spatial location, essential in geometry. Reading is difficult because it involves making the link with eye movement, reading becomes an unpleasant experience, with the risk of academic failure, without the establishment of special arrangements.
Neurovision Care
COP9 is a multidisciplinary center that offers you comprehensive neurovision care. Dr. Stéphanie Zwillinger, who has been promoting awareness and working in this field since 2017, has assembled a team of professionals specializing in neurovisual disorders. Whether for early detection or treatment of adults, the multidisciplinary team provides expertise in the cognitive and functional fields in order to treat neuro visual impairment.
The patient care at COP9 provides a complete medical program: the ophthalmology practice is made up of specialized orthoptists and psychomotor therapists. We treat patients who have already been diagnosed, as well as providing early detection. We accompany our patients in their language and cognitive disorders as well as in psychomotor rehabilitation.
We can only conclude by reminding you that it is important to be aware of the field of neurovision… Especially since there is a possible rehabilitation with the specialists you will meet at COP9, your multidisciplinary ophthalmology center. Do not hesitate to make an appointment if one or more of these disorders concern you or a loved one!