Vision Training with Saccade Pyramids

Saccade pyramids help to train accuracy and coordination of eye movements. Saccades are the quick movements of the eyes when you look quickly from one point to the next. Smooth pursuits are the movement used as we follow an object moving in space (eg watching a moving car on the road).

To read, we use a combination of saccades and smooth movements. Some people have poor control of their tracking and eye movements, which can cause problems when reading as the eyes cannot accurately and/or smoothly move to the next word or line.

Sometimes people will need to hold a finger under each word to help guide them where to look; this is called proprioception. By training the eyes to move from letter to letter without the guide of a finger, the visual system can improve its speed and accuracy of eye movements.

What you will need:

Print outs with one number/letter pyramid per page (similar to image above).

Instructions:

1. Start at the top of the first page where there is a single letter/number.
2. Read out each pair of letters/numbers in order until you have reached the bottom of the page. Try not to lose your place! Remember to keep your head still during these exercises, only moving your eyes.
3. Repeat each page until you are comfortable that you can go through all the letters/numbers quickly and accurately without head movements.
4. When you can do all the pyramids with lines between the letters/numbers, try the advanced pyramids with no lines to guide you!
5. Try not to use your finger to point at the next letter/number as this will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.

If you have any questions, please contact our friendly team.