KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Hi all,

Just to ask whether anyone of you have experience dealing with children (or you are one yourself) with Ocular Motor Apraxia.
I have a 1 year old boy with this congenital syndrome.

Below is the definition from the Net.

What is Ocular Motor Apraxia?

'Fast' eye movements are called saccades. We use saccade eye movements to quickly change the direction that our eyes are looking. This helps us look at something that has suddenly moved near to us. This is so the eyes can focus sharply on an object. The eyes can then give clear signals to the brain to make clear vision. It also helps us quickly move our eyes across a page of writing while reading. Saccades are important in many other visual tasks. Ocular Motor Apraxia is a condition where a child has a breakdown (failure) in starting (initiating) fast eye movements.

Ocular Motor Apraxia has many different names. It is sometimes called Cogan's Ocular Motor Apraxia or Saccadic Initiation Failure (SIF). SIF is a useful name to help explain what the condition mainly is: a breakdown (failure) in starting (initiating) fast eye movements (saccades).

What is the cause of Ocular Motor Apraxia?

Many different parts of the brain control eye movements. If any part becomes damaged then ocular motor apraxia may develop.

A child may be born with these special eye movement control bits not working (congenital). Other children may develop it in childhood (acquired). There are many different reasons why a child might develop Ocular Motor Apraxia in childhood.

It is often not the only condition that the child may have. Children may also have:

Learning difficulties
Delayed language development
Delayed sitting and walking skills
Delay in toilet training
Very often no cause can be found. Doctors call this idiopathic.

Hello there my name is Vanessa and I have a 17 month old son with Congenital Oculor Motor Apraxia as well. ITs a very rare condition as you know. He saw one of the best Drs in Los Angeles CA hes a Neuro optpmologist and he did confirm he has it 100% he cant look side to side without jerking the head. He seems to be doing better and is talking alot he doesent walk he doesent have good balance at all. How old is your child? Im glad that I know someone now or can talk to someone regarding this since it is so rare....

Also I wanted to tell you that the Dr told me he would be behind Motorly. Doesent effect there intelligency at all... and at about age 8 on a avg he will be caught up Motorly. ITs just something he has.. they are not different from others with just a Motor Delay... good news is our boys will get over this!! :-) please let me know what you experience with your boy. :-)

Hi Vanessa,

My son is 14mth, has all the head jerking movements. He was diagnosed to have OMA by PD in KK hospital. We brought him to eye specialist in who confirmed this condition.

Development-wise
Motor skills are delayed due to low muscle tone (might be related or hereditary)
He is starting to learn to walk.
We brought him for physiotherapy and occupational therapy to help him

Mental development is ok, just that we will not know the full range of learning difficulties he might encounter as he grow older. My wife and I are talking to people with OMA children on FB so as we can learn to cope with this syndrome.

You can drop me an email or PM so as we can talk in length

Hi there.. dident know that there was something on FB regarding it... can you request me on FB so I can see other people kids that have it.. Im vanessa maisenbacher would love to hear and share what we all experience. did your dr say he would eventually outgrow this?

Im not sure exactly how to email on this thing.. here is my personal email... [email protected]

Thank you! Hope to be friends on FB what do i search on FB to be friends with other parents that have a kid with COMA?

My 15 months old baby girl diagnosed with OMA too.