Visagraph Detects Problems
Data collected by this machine can reveal weak spots in reading fluency
Augusta Chronicle
March 5, 1999
Augusta, GA: Masked in a pair of goggles, a pupil quietly read a paragraph held before her.
As she read, two graph lines jumped across a computer screen, charting every subliminal movement of her eyes.
When the pupil was done, she simply closed her eyes and a computer measured her eye movements -- how many pauses, or fixations, she made and how long they were, how many times she regressed in her reading, and how many words she recognized in one pause.
The machine -- known as a Visagraph -- is being used by some Columbia County elementary schools to target children's reading weaknesses.
Infrared sensors built into the goggles transmit information to a computer to show a pupil's potential reading level and fluency, comparing it to the grade norm. The pupil then answers a series of questions to test reading comprehension.
``We want to know what the child would do if he or she was reading normally,'' said Lisa Abate, a developmental reading teacher at Grovetown Elementary School. ``Reading comprehension is so dependent on the eye movement, which many of us never realized before.''
Both Grovetown and North Harlem elementary schools test third- through fifth-graders three times a year. North Columbia uses a Visagraph to track certain pupils with identified reading weaknesses.
The Visagraph alone cannot make a child a better reader, but the data collected by the machine can reveal weak spots in reading fluency, Ms. Abate said. For example, a pupil may regress -- reading right to left -- excessively while reading without even realizing it. Teachers then would provide computer exercises to target the weakness and help make the child a stronger reader.
``Now we have hard data to support our feelings,'' North Harlem Principal Sharlotte Evans said. ``It gives us a feel for how we need to address the individual child.''
Only about 700 to 800 Visagraphs are used in schools across the nation, said Stanford Taylor of New York-based Taylor Associates, which produces and markets the technology. While measuring eye movements is nothing new, the Visagraph has been available to schools for only the past four years.
The company recently did an analysis of Grovetown Elementary's reading scores since the school began using the Visagraph nearly two years ago. The analysis showed gains in reading scores between 1997 and 1998 of 8 percentage points for fifth-graders and 14 percentage points for third-graders.
Mr. Stanford said schools have become more receptive to the Visagraph as a supplement to their reading programs as the use of computer technology increases.
``Beyond the educative aspects which the teacher can do, there are training aspects that influence this subliminal activity,'' he said. “Training techniques are absolutely an important and critical component of any comprehensive reading program.''
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