Binocular coordination of saccades during reading in strabismic children.

PURPOSE

To our knowledge, studies comparing binocular eye movements during reading task in strabismic children are scarce. The goal of our study was to examine binocular coordination of saccades during reading in strabismic children.

METHODS

Binocular eye movements were recorded by an infrared system (mobile EBT) in 18 strabismic children 6.8 to 16 years old (mean age 10.2 ± 3) who were asked to read a four-line text silently during binocular viewing. Data were compared to that of 18 age-matched non-strabismic control children.

RESULTS

Saccade amplitude was similar in strabismic and control children. In contrast, binocular coordination during and after the saccades was significantly poorer in strabismic children as opposed to control children. The duration of fixation also was significantly longer in strabismic children compared to controls. Binocular coordination in strabismic children who have binocular vision was better than those without binocular vision, but it still was worse than in control subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

In strabismic children binocular saccade coordination is deficient and could be responsible for impaired reading capabilities. Binocular vision has an important role in improving binocular saccade yoking.