Assessing stereopsis in preverbal children

Abstract

Stereovision became a hype when Wheatley presented his theory in 1838. Stereoscopes became popular. Stereoperception was recognized as the ultimate stage of binocular vision in strabismus theories of the 19th century.Stereopsis is assessed as part of the normal strabismologic examination. Most tests depend on the subject’s active response. In babies the assessment of stereopsis is more cumbersome and rarely done outside a research setting.Stereopsis can be demonstrated from the age of around 3 months by FCPL techniques. Interestingly, this can also be demonstrated to a similar degree in babies with infantile esotropia but the number in which this can be done declines rapidly over months. In the age‐old controversy regarding the timing of surgery for this condition the potential for stereovision is rarely taken into account. Yet this may be an important prognostic factor; it would seem that in the presence of demonstrable stereopsis offering very early surgery makes sense. However, a quick and reliable test for stereopsis in babies is hard to find.This part of the work‐shop will look into the history and background of stereotesting, available tests, recent advances and our own research into developing such a test.