Fancy Changing the World While Playing with Your Child? University Colleget London’s Child Vision Lab Could Use Your Help

Mar 28, 2012 by admin

Fancy Changing the World While Playing with Your Child?

University College London’s Child Vision Lab located in Moorfields Hospital near Olde Street Underground is working on a new series of studies to help develop therapies for infants and children with vision difficulties.

Set in the brand new Richard Desmond Children’s Eye Centre, part of Moorfields Hospital, you can bring your infant or child in for a play in their bright, happy, pleasant rooms and spend an enjoyable morning or afternoon contributing to new research helping to create new strategies for diagnosing and treating vision impairments in young children.

The activities your child will participate in are very straightforward and do not require any invasive procedures. Basically, you bring your infant in, sit them on your lap and have them watch a series of images on screen. For example, stripy patterns may be displayed, interspersed with fun cartoon characters. The lab often uses a camera called an “Eye Tracker” specially designed to pick up on reflections of the eye and record where the eye is looking.

Your child may be asked to wear a special sensor on their head called an electroencephalogram, to measure brain activity while watching the slides. This is basically a special hat with special sensors, a bit like electrocardiograms used on the chest to measure heart rate.

This research team of child and infant visual development specialists was put together by Dr. Marko Nardini, who has previously worked in babylabs at Birkbeck University and the University of Oxford. Your play date at the Child Vision Lab will help several studies currently running to better inform what the normal range is for infant vision, to develop diagnostic tests, therapies and strategies for families of visually impaired children.

This is an invaluable opportunity to make a positive contribution to the understanding and treatment of children with vision difficulties. The study is on a volunteer basis, but your travel will be refunded up to £20.

Registration Details:

Child Vision Lab University College London Institute of Ophthalmology

Or ring the Child Vision Lab on 020 7608 6819