Functional Gaze Control
The aim of the Gaze project was to devise a method in which a child’s functional gaze abilities could be assessed. Establishing a shared understanding of the profile of a child’s functional gaze control skills will support clinicians and families to develop shared expectations for that child’s current behaviour, while delivering appropriate individualised intervention to support skills development.
This project is now complete. To read more about the project, including the assessment method used with a video and downloadable instructions for your own use, please use the menu links.
This project was funded by the children’s charity, Sparks. For more information on Sparks, please visit their website.
Young children with severe physical disabilities who have little or no functional speech can rely almost entirely on their looking skills to engage with the world around them, interact with others and learn. Observation of these children's spontaneous and responsive gaze behaviours can be an effective way of assessing understanding of language, learning and participation in activities.
However, for observation of gaze behaviour to be of clinical value as an indicator of performance, clinicians need to first determine the child's core repertoire of functional gaze control skills.
The aim of the Gaze project was to devise a method in which a child's functional gaze abilities could be assessed. Establishing a shared understanding of the profile of a child's functional gaze control skills will support clinicians and families to develop shared expectations for that child's current behaviour while delivering appropriate individualised intervention to support skills development.
Watch this video for tips on how to perform a functional gaze assessment yourself (the video tutorial operates best if this webpage is viewed with Mozilla Firefox). Step by step instructions are available to download (see below) and print out. The assessment procedures are freely available to clinicians and families. We simply ask that you notify the Functional Gaze Control team to register your interest in these activities.
The assessment procedures have been designed for children with cerebral palsy affecting their whole body who have little or no functional speech. The procedures have been tested on a large group of these children who had a developmental age of approximately 12 months to 6 years, and whose visual acuity ranged from normal to poor.
If you would like to trial the functional gaze assessment for yourself, please feel free to download the step by step guides. The assessment procedures are freely available to clinicians and families. We simply ask that you notify the Functional Gaze Control team to register your interest in these activities.
Step 1: Gathering materials
Step 2: Gaze control activities
Step 3: Plotting performance
Step 4: Score sheet templates