Viewing Strategy Training in Children With (Cerebral) Visual Impairment

NCT05600140 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: NL81584.091.22
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 60
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Viewing strategies are strategies used to process visual Information. Many children with visual impairment seem to lack systematic viewing strategies. However, it is unknown how viewing strategies differ between children with normal vision and children with (cerebral) visual impairment. In addition, viewing strategy training is often adopted in clinical practice, but till date there is no scientific evidence about effectiveness of this approach. The current project has two goals: (1) to measure viewing strategies used by children with normal vision, children with ocular visual impairment and children with CVI, and (2) to evaluate whether training viewing strategies results in more efficiënt visual Information processing.

Conditions

Vision Disorders; Vision, Low

Keywords

viewing strategies; (cerebral) visual impairment; visual rehabilitation; reading strategies; visual search strategies

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (7)

• Changes in reading accuracy after viewing strategy training

  Radner reading test

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in reading speed after viewing strategy training

  Radner reading test

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in visual search accuracy after training

  Accuracy during conjunction search

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in visual search speed after training

  Speed during conjunction search

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in saccade amplitudes during reading and visual search after training

  Saccade amplitudes measured using Radner reading test and conjunction search

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in fixation duration during reading and search after training

  Fixation durations measured using Radner reading test and conjunction search

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in average distance between fixation points during conjunction search (EB-VSA) after training

  Average distance between fixation points using Radner reading test and conjunction search

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Changes in WISC-V visual processing speed index (VSI) after training

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in local visual selective attention after training

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in global visual selective attention after training

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

• Changes in visual identification speed after training

  Group A: Day 0, Month 2, Month 8; Group B: Day 0, Month 2, Month 4

Study Arms (2)

Group A) early training group

EXPERIMENTAL

T0 = baseline measurement T1 = posttest (within two weeks after training) T2 = follow up measurement (6 months after training)

Behavioral: Viewing strategy training

Group B) late training group

EXPERIMENTAL

T0 = baseline measurement T1 = test-retest reliability and natural development (over period 1 1/2-2 months after T0) T2 = posttest (within two weeks after training)

Behavioral: Viewing strategy training

Interventions

Viewing strategy training BEHAVIORAL

Children receive a visual training of viewing strategies (six weeks, 2 times a week, 30 minutes). During the training, children are instructed to use specific viewing strategies (looking in a structured direction which fits the task at hand, zooming in and out / change of visual selective attentional field, visual discrimination). The verbal instructions and exercises are protocol-based. A textbook is used to describe the reactions of the children during training.

Group A) early training group; Group B) late training group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 5 Years - 12 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Age 5-12 years
• linear distant visual acuity of 0.1 logMAR or better
• Verbal IQ above 70
• Absence of developmental disorders or psychiatric problems like ASS or AD(H)D
• Age 5-12 years
• Children with linear distance visual acuity better \<=1.3logMAR and \>0.1 logMAR
• Intact central visual field (at least \> 30 degrees)
• Children with a verbal IQ above 70
• Absence of developmental disorders or psychiatric problems like ASS or AD(H)D
• Age 5-12 years
• Linear distance visual acuity \<=0.3 logMAR
• Having the diagnosis CVI (verified by ophthalmologists)
• Children with a verbal IQ above 70
• Absence of psychiatric problems like ASS or AD(H)D

You may not qualify if:

• Children with VI: linear near visual acuity \>1.0 logMAR
• Children with visual field defect \< 30 degrees
• Children with a verbal IQ below 70
• Children who attended a form of vision training in the past two years
• Children with psychiatric problems like ASS or AD(H)D
• Auditory impairment or language impairments
• Major life events during training

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Royal Dutch Visio: lead
• Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute, Nijmegen, The Netherlands: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Royal Dutch Visio

Nijmegen, Netherlands

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Vision Disorders; Vision, Low; Blindness, Cortical

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Eye Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Blindness

Study Officials

• Bianca Huurneman, PhD

  Royal Dutch Visio

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Bianca Huurneman, PhD

CONTACT

0(031)646944002; biancahuurneman@visio.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: For the first phase of the study, we aim to include 48 children aged 5-12 years for each group (i.e. normal Vision, ocular visual impairment, cerebral visual impairment). For the second phase of the study 60 children with visual impairment aged 5-9 years will be included (ocular impairment: n=30, cerebral visual impairment: n=30). In the second phase of the project, children receive a visual training of viewing strategies (six weeks, 2 times a week, 30 minutes). During the training, children are instructed to use specific viewing strategies (looking in a structured direction which fits the task at hand, zooming in and out / change of visual selective attentional field, visual discrimination). The verbal instructions and exercises are protocol based. A textbook is used to describe the reactions of the children during training.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 12, 2022
• First Posted: October 31, 2022
• Study Start: October 25, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Last Updated: January 7, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NL (1)