No Estado de São Paulo, desenvolveu-se o Plano de Oftalmologia Sanitária Escolar, no período de 1973 a 1976, junto às escolas da rede de ensino oficial estadual, que se propunha a detectar distúrbios visuais de escolares, prover a devida assistência, respaldado por atividades educativas e proceder a levantamento de dados sobre a problemática oftalmológica existente. Tratando-se de programação intersetorial, envolvendo as Secretarias de Estado da Saúde e da Educação, fez-se necessário todo um planejamento técnico-administrativo articulado, seguido de procedimentos de coordenação, supervisão e avaliação que se fizeram presentes em todo o transcorrer do plano. Mediante mecanismo de descentralização da organização dos serviços de Saúde e de Educação, o trabalho atingiu todas as regiões administrativas do Estado, com participação de grande contingente de pessoal da rede escolar, técnicos e especialistas em saúde, entidades governamentais, particulares e comunidade em geral. Considerando a metodologia empregada no plano e os resultados obtidos, faz-se pertinente a proposição de discutir alguns aspectos considerados relevantes, na tentativa de que este estudo possa oferecer subsídios para iniciativas semelhantes de pessoas ou órgãos interessados na problemática visual de escolares. / The Sanitary School Opthalmology Plan was developed in the State of São Paulo from 1973 to 1976 in schools of the public oficial teaching complex, aiming to detect the visual problems in school children, provide their proper care, based upon educational activities and set up the data on the existing ophthalmological problem. Dealing with an intersectorial program involving Health and Education Departments of the State of São Paulo, a technic administrative interrelated plan was necessary, followed by coordination procedures, as well as supervision and evaluation while the Plan was being carried out. Through the mechanism of decentralization of the organization of Health and Education services the work has reached all the administrative areas of the State of São Paulo, with the participation of a great contingent of the school complex personnel, technicians and specialists in health, as well as governmental and private entities and the community in general. Taking into account the methodology used in the Plan and the results obtained, the discussion of some relevant aspects is important, hoping that this work may provide subsidies for similar activities of people or services interested in the visual problem of school children.

No Estado de São Paulo, desenvolveu-se o Plano de Oftalmologia Sanitária Escolar, no período de 1973 a 1976, junto às escolas da rede de ensino oficial estadual, que se propunha a detectar distúrbios visuais de escolares, prover a devida assistência, respaldado por atividades educativas e proceder a levantamento de dados sobre a problemática oftalmológica existente. Tratando-se de programação intersetorial, envolvendo as Secretarias de Estado da Saúde e da Educação, fez-se necessário todo um planejamento técnico-administrativo articulado, seguido de procedimentos de coordenação, supervisão e avaliação que se fizeram presentes em todo o transcorrer do plano. Mediante mecanismo de descentralização da organização dos serviços de Saúde e de Educação, o trabalho atingiu todas as regiões administrativas do Estado, com participação de grande contingente de pessoal da rede escolar, técnicos e especialistas em saúde, entidades governamentais, particulares e comunidade em geral. Considerando a metodologia empregada no plano e os resultados obtidos, faz-se pertinente a proposição de discutir alguns aspectos considerados relevantes, na tentativa de que este estudo possa oferecer subsídios para iniciativas semelhantes de pessoas ou órgãos interessados na problemática visual de escolares. / The Sanitary School Opthalmology Plan was developed in the State of São Paulo from 1973 to 1976 in schools of the public oficial teaching complex, aiming to detect the visual problems in school children, provide their proper care, based upon educational activities and set up the data on the existing ophthalmological problem. Dealing with an intersectorial program involving Health and Education Departments of the State of São Paulo, a technic administrative interrelated plan was necessary, followed by coordination procedures, as well as supervision and evaluation while the Plan was being carried out. Through the mechanism of decentralization of the organization of Health and Education services the work has reached all the administrative areas of the State of São Paulo, with the participation of a great contingent of the school complex personnel, technicians and specialists in health, as well as governmental and private entities and the community in general. Taking into account the methodology used in the Plan and the results obtained, the discussion of some relevant aspects is important, hoping that this work may provide subsidies for similar activities of people or services interested in the visual problem of school children.

Various researchers have found that visual problems can contribute to clumsiness in children with DCD. One cause of motor development shortfalls that contribute to a DCD classification seems to be weak eye muscle functions. The visual system as well as well-developed eye muscle functions, play an important role in die development of balance, spatial orientation, body awareness and coordination (hand-eye, foot-eye, hand-foot-eye coordination). It also emerges from the literature that children with DCD do not usually outgrow their problems, although controversy still surrounds this aspect. The aim of this study was twofold. The first aim was to determine, as established by eye muscle functions, what the nature and scope of visual problems are, that is associated with DCD in 7 and 8 year-old children in Potchefstroom. The second aim was to determine whether 7 and 8 year-old Potchefstroom children will outgrow their DCD status without any motor intervention, and what the relationship between vision and the lasting effects of DCD status is. Thirty-two children (20 boys and 12 girls) with an average age of 95.66 months engaged in the study. During a follow-up study after a year of baseline testing at 83.33 months, the researcher wanted to determine whether the subjects diagnosed with DCD had possibly outgrown their DCD status. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) was applied for this purpose. The Sensory Input Screening Test (Pyfer, 1987), and the "Quick Neurological Screening Test" (QNST) (Mutti et al., 1998) test batteries were employed to determine the visual status of the children. The "Statistica for Windows 2008" computer software was used to analyse the data. Correlation coefficients as well as two-way variance tables were used for objective one to analyse the relationship between DCD and vision. The results confirmed correlations between DCD and eye muscle functions. Relationships were found between different eye muscle functions (fixation, visual pursuit, left and right eye, ocular alignment right eye) and the MABC total. Significant correlations, with small practical significance (p 10.2) was found between fine motor skills and fixation with both eyes, and with the left eye separately, visual pursuit with the right eye, as well as ocular alignment with the right eye, while a correlation with moderate practical significance (p 10.5) was found with fixtion with the right eye. All six eye muscle functions showed significant correlations with small practical significance (p 10.2) with ball skills. Static and dynamic balance also showed significant correlations with small practical significance (p 10.2) with fixation with both eyes, the left and right eye separately as well as with ocular alignment with the right eye. The results further indicated that in most cases where children have been diagnosed with serious DCD, they were classified in Class 3 (where more than three visual deviations occurred in the subject) regarding their vision. These percentages varied from 36.67% to 83.33%, with the highest percentage problems found in visual pursuit with the right eye. For objective 2, a dependent t-test was employed to determine the state of the children's DCD after a year has lapsed since diagnosis. The differences between the testing showed that most of the children have not outgrown their DCD status, but that the motor performance of a majority of the children has deteriorated over a period of one year (p 10.00). Furthermore, the percentage visual problems in the group with sustained DCD ranged from 71,87% - 100% (visual pursuit, fixation and ocular alignment), with the most visual problems found in fixation and visual pursuit skills. It can be concluded from the results that a significant relationship exists between DCD and a variety of visual functions, as determined by the different eye muscle functions. This evidence also indicated that most children will not outgrow their DCD status without any motor intervention programme. Intervention of children who are diagnosed with DCD should therefor include visual therapy. / Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Various researchers have found that visual problems can contribute to clumsiness in children with DCD. One cause of motor development shortfalls that contribute to a DCD classification seems to be weak eye muscle functions. The visual system as well as well-developed eye muscle functions, play an important role in die development of balance, spatial orientation, body awareness and coordination (hand-eye, foot-eye, hand-foot-eye coordination). It also emerges from the literature that children with DCD do not usually outgrow their problems, although controversy still surrounds this aspect. The aim of this study was twofold. The first aim was to determine, as established by eye muscle functions, what the nature and scope of visual problems are, that is associated with DCD in 7 and 8 year-old children in Potchefstroom. The second aim was to determine whether 7 and 8 year-old Potchefstroom children will outgrow their DCD status without any motor intervention, and what the relationship between vision and the lasting effects of DCD status is. Thirty-two children (20 boys and 12 girls) with an average age of 95.66 months engaged in the study. During a follow-up study after a year of baseline testing at 83.33 months, the researcher wanted to determine whether the subjects diagnosed with DCD had possibly outgrown their DCD status. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) was applied for this purpose. The Sensory Input Screening Test (Pyfer, 1987), and the "Quick Neurological Screening Test" (QNST) (Mutti et al., 1998) test batteries were employed to determine the visual status of the children. The "Statistica for Windows 2008" computer software was used to analyse the data. Correlation coefficients as well as two-way variance tables were used for objective one to analyse the relationship between DCD and vision. The results confirmed correlations between DCD and eye muscle functions. Relationships were found between different eye muscle functions (fixation, visual pursuit, left and right eye, ocular alignment right eye) and the MABC total. Significant correlations, with small practical significance (p 10.2) was found between fine motor skills and fixation with both eyes, and with the left eye separately, visual pursuit with the right eye, as well as ocular alignment with the right eye, while a correlation with moderate practical significance (p 10.5) was found with fixtion with the right eye. All six eye muscle functions showed significant correlations with small practical significance (p 10.2) with ball skills. Static and dynamic balance also showed significant correlations with small practical significance (p 10.2) with fixation with both eyes, the left and right eye separately as well as with ocular alignment with the right eye. The results further indicated that in most cases where children have been diagnosed with serious DCD, they were classified in Class 3 (where more than three visual deviations occurred in the subject) regarding their vision. These percentages varied from 36.67% to 83.33%, with the highest percentage problems found in visual pursuit with the right eye. For objective 2, a dependent t-test was employed to determine the state of the children's DCD after a year has lapsed since diagnosis. The differences between the testing showed that most of the children have not outgrown their DCD status, but that the motor performance of a majority of the children has deteriorated over a period of one year (p 10.00). Furthermore, the percentage visual problems in the group with sustained DCD ranged from 71,87% - 100% (visual pursuit, fixation and ocular alignment), with the most visual problems found in fixation and visual pursuit skills. It can be concluded from the results that a significant relationship exists between DCD and a variety of visual functions, as determined by the different eye muscle functions. This evidence also indicated that most children will not outgrow their DCD status without any motor intervention programme. Intervention of children who are diagnosed with DCD should therefor include visual therapy. / Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.