Monocular and Binocular Measurements of Smooth Eye-Pursuit by Rural Children in Kindergarten and Grade Two

Toward developing baseline data for monocular and binocular smooth eye-pursuit 22 midwestern rural Caucasian kindergarten and 24 second-grade children were asked to follow a hand-held penlight with their eyes. The examiner held the student's hand and penlight and monitored the fastest speed in inches per second that the eyes pursued the light with no observed aberration. Range of movement in inches was also noted. Analysis showed moderate correlations for 6-wk. test-retest reliability, monocular and binocular skills are different; pursuit skill of a flickering light is moderately related to that of binocular flashlight; and skills of students at Grade 2 are more advanced than those of students in kindergarten.