How does a developing baby write their own story? EVERY baby writes their own story. They do it through developing their internal curiosity. What whets their internal curiosity? This curiosity may occur naturally in a few but in most it is a developing process. Each baby must learn through the developmental processes to work within their expanding environment which then shapes their overall development.

Babies do not sit around waiting for something to happen. Babies are naturally curious and engage in everything around themselves. They are instigators of action, and the processes of VISION emerge as the primary explorers, instigators, and influencers. It is a daily expansion of their surrounding environment.

I was conducting a retinoscopy workshop in Thorkild Rasmussen’s office in Denmark in 2012 and saw the book, Developmental Diagnosis by Gesell and Amatruda on his bookshelf. I though I had seen all of Gesell’s books and had a copy of most but this was not one I had seen. When I turned to the third page in the Blindness chapter, the words below struck a chord that sent my mind into a tailspin. I began thinking about that comment throughout the rest of the workshop.

“**The infant is born with visual hunger.**”1

Introduction

I started thinking about this type of communication during the pandemic. I would go into my office periodically and write down thoughts and ideas that came to mind. The more I did this, ideas came forth from many places and I began doing this every day. It may have been a sentence, a paragraph, or even a page, but I was motivated to move my ideas to the written word. I have spent many years developing an understanding of what vision is for, what vision development means, and the critical importance of vision in all aspects of development. My mentors were John Streff and Dick Apell and through them, I was exposed to the landmark works of Arnold Gesell, MD. I would be remiss to not include others who had indirect influence on my thinking and understanding these broader concepts of HOW an individual uses vision throughout life such as Jerry Getman, Bob Kraskin, Paul Harris, Greg Kitchener, and Steve Gallop. But the basis for my understanding of the importance of vision in all of development always goes back to Arnold Gesell.