Background: Studies have shown a learning effect frequently occurs on administration of the New York State Optometric Association King-Devick (NYSOA K-D) in 7- to 12-year-old children. However, the reliability of the NYSOA K-D has not been studied in younger children. Further, the effect of visual anomalies on reliability has not been investigated previously.
Methods: The reliability of the NYSOA K-D saccadic eye movement test was assessed in a masked investigation of 52 children in kindergarten and first grade (25 kindergartners [mean age, 5.76 years] and 27 first graders [mean age, 6.78 years]) from a middle-class, suburban, elementary school near Cleveland, Ohio. The MCT was administered to all the children. The NYSOA K-D test was administered to the children and then retested 1 week and 3 weeks later.
Results: An evaluation of the NYSOA K-D test/retest results revealed a significant trend toward improved test times in first graders (p = 0.0001). In addition, a high number of children were classified differently from one test administration to the next.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the NYSOA K-D is not reliable in kindergarten and first grade children.