Sight and school learning.
Today we found ourselves revisiting an educational project from a few years ago, designed for the elementary schools of the municipality of Cervia.
This is a very interesting booklet, entitled “Vision, Posture and Learning” edited by Dr. Vittorio Roncagli, President of the European Academy of Sports Vision. ( www.easv.org )
We report here a small extract that we are sure can provide really interesting ideas to operators in the sector but above all to parents and teachers.
The Importance of Vision and Posture Education
Dr. Vittorio Roncagli
“That sight is a very important requirement for any child attending school is obvious and evident to everyone.
Many pediatricians perform a quick check of children's vision as early as the third year of life, and most parents make sure to have their children's vision checked periodically during school age.
Unlike a few decades ago, most visual defects are diagnosed early thanks to prevention and many of the problems can be effectively solved by avoiding some problems such as amblyopia (the so-called "lazy eye") and by recognizing early the possible presence of strabismus or visual defects.
What is often not taken for granted are the multiple correlations between vision and numerous other components related to child development and school learning. One of these is posture.
One aspect that any parent can easily observe is the fact that children spend a lot, sometimes too much, time in sedentary and visually tiring activities such as in front of the TV, video games or the computer. In such circumstances it is easy to observe that children assume grossly inappropriate body and head positions (posture).
Prolonged sedentary activities invite you to keep your body in asymmetrical positions, with a curved back, a tilted head, and to position yourself too close to the TV or computer screen. These incorrect positions are also repeated at school and during household activities.
Until a few decades ago, parents and teachers gave a lot of importance to correct postural behavior, and the imperative reminder was “Stand up straight when you write!” or “Write properly, can’t you see that you’re all crooked?!”.
Slanted school desks and the use of ink pens facilitated a more symmetrical position and a more correct grip.
Unfortunately, paradoxically, in recent times what are considered simply “bad behavior” are considered so common that we often end up scolding children for the positions they assume without there being any real education in correct postural behavior. At the same time, postural problems and pains have increased enormously.
Observing children already in elementary school it is easy to see that many write or read in grossly incorrect positions, with their head bent to one side, with the paper too close to their eyes, with a curved back, with inadequate lighting. It is important to understand that during developmental age children tend to somatize those inappropriate behaviors and that over time a series of collateral defects appear that can have their origins precisely in years of incorrect postural behaviors. Scoliosis, myopia, convergence deficit, misalignment of the visual axes (phorias), reduced binocular visual abilities, are just some of the most frequent aspects that are observed during the development of children and that correlate with the habit of assuming incorrect postural habits.
Preventing and resolving the multitude of causes that lead children to adopt incorrect postural habits is not easy but there are some small precautions that, if known and applied in everyday life, can prevent or reduce the consequences.”
What do you think? What strategies do you use to correct your children and help them maintain proper posture? Share your experience!