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The head of a football playing robot. © Nikolas Golsch​​/​​TU Dort­mund
New Child Vision Lab

Researchers at TU Dortmund University Study Visual Impairments

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A girl sits on a chair and a woman sits next to her. Both are looking at the camera. © Martina Hengesbach​/​TU Dortmund
Carina Schücker (right) from the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences tests the eyesight of nine-year-old Emilia (left).
Since spring 2023, scientists from the Research Unit Vision, Visual Impairments & Blindness in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at TU Dortmund University have been researching children’s vision in a new vision lab. Over the past six months, eleven children have already taken part in an ongoing study that examines the relationship between learning difficulties and vision. The team is still looking for participants for future studies. Families with children can also come to this child vision lab (“Sehambulanz für Kinder”) for an individual consultation as part of an open hour.

The orthoptist and scientist Carina Schücker shows nine-year-old Emilia a chart featuring increasingly smaller optotypes and asks her to identify them. In another task, Emilia looks at a disk with parallel lines on it and has to recognize in which direction these lines are pointing. In another task, the young participant wears glasses with one green and one red lens and has to recognize shapes in red-green dot images, e.g. a circle or a square. The children taking part in the current study are hosted by the vision lab for two half days for testing. “On the first day, we test vision. Then, on the second day, the focus is on learning,” says Carina Schücker, academic staff member at the Research Unit Vision, Visual Impairments & Blindness, which is led by Prof. Sarah Weigelt.

A woman with glasses shows a blackboard to a girl. © Martina Hengesbach​/​TU Dortmund
After extensive examinations in the child vision lab, parents can receive knowledgeable tips on how to deal with their child’s visual impairment.

Previous studies have already found that those with poorer writing and math skills often have slightly worse eyesight. “But there is still no precise data on how learning difficulties and visual impairments are actually connected. We hope to make a major contribution here with our research. Our initial findings show that the visual profiles of children with learning difficulties vary greatly,” says Carina Schücker. The study uses special materials purchased for a previous research project in the subject area.

Research and consultation

In addition to the research projects, another emphasis of the new vision lab is detailed visual and perceptual diagnostics for children and young people. The focus here is on children with suspected cerebral visual impairments (CVI). Visual impairments of this kind can occur if the processing of visual stimuli is disturbed, for example, due to a brain condition or developmental disorder. These impairments can, for instance, affect spatial perception, facial recognition or orientation in confusing or unclear situations.

“We very much hope that, with the new child vision lab , we can use our research to better understand cerebral visual impairments and close the large gap that exists in diagnostics and consultation,” says Prof. Weigelt, summarizing the goals of the vision lab. Families with children who are suspected of having visual impairments can use the extensive examination options as a valuable supplement to their ophthalmologist's diagnosis. To do so, they can make an appointment in the open clinic. Following the examinations, the scientists also give them specific tips on how to deal with the relevant visual impairment.

Participants wanted for MRI study

Researchers are currently looking for children, adolescents and young adults between the ages of 6 and 19 without visual impairments for an MRI study examining how the brain works when viewing different things. Children participants will be introduced to the MRI scanner with the utmost care. In addition to compensation, participants receive their own MRI scans and a digital model of their brain, which can be printed in three dimensions.

Registration via email to: lichtenberg-studietu-dortmundde

More about the child vision lab

More about the open hour

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