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From: margaret@asgb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: "walking" too soon?
Message-ID: <523@asgb.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-Aug-84 11:55:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: asgb.523
Posted: Fri Aug 10 11:55:09 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Aug-84 06:32:57 EDT
References: <2893@decwrl.UUCP>, <186@cbosgd.UUCP>
Organization: Burroughs Corporation, San Diego
Lines: 22

I am a living example of why a child should not be allowed to walk too soon. 
After crawling for a very short time, I learned to walk. All was well and good
until I started school. For a couple of years, I was fortunate enough to be
placed in a desk at the front of the classroom. In 3rd grade, this changed.
After a few weeks, it became apparent that my school work was going down hill.
After a trip to the eye doctor, I found out that I had a convergence problem.
It seems that when crawling, a baby learns to slowly bring objects into focus.
If they start walking too soon, the eyes will not be trained to focus
properly. I now have to live with double vision for everything beyond the  
distance of 3 feet unless I am specifically concentrating on focusing on the
object in front of me. Surgery could correct part of the problem, but would 
mess up my near vision. So, from personal experience, my advise is to
encourage your babies to crawl for at least 2-3 months.  

(Note: I have tried eye exercises for about 14 years now. They help some, but
cannot make up for the training lost in the early months of development.

Margaret Brown
Burroughs ASG Boulder
...!sdcsvax!bmcg!asgb!margaret