Bubba’s Circle of Understanding - What Is It and Why Is It Important?

All rights reserved - Glen T. Steele, OD FOVDR FAAO and OPSIS Education Foundation 2026

Angelea Perez wrote in one of her LinkedIn posts: “Vision drives nearly every aspect of early learning. It shapes motor skills, communication, social engagement, and cognitive growth. When vision is delayed, everything is delayed.”

I would go even farther – vision drives almost every aspect of life, not only in early learning but in all of life. When vision is actively expanding forward, growth and development are progressing in a forward manner. When vision is holding in the present state, i.e., not looking forward, development is also holding in the present state. This might be necessary for attention and focus leading to a deeper understanding of their surrounds. When the cultural expectations are calling for life to be moving forward, continued attention and focus limit expansion. If we wait until age 3 to “start” observing and supporting a child’s vision and development… we are already behind.

Throughout development and indeed throughout life, an infant’s smaller volume of understanding evolves into a larger area of understanding consistent with typical responses at further distances. Likewise, observations of the baby’s social and emotional development, communication development, physical movement and control, and cognitive development will become more typical for age as evidenced through the visual process. Should the baby’s engagement of the visual process become restricted for any reason, each of these areas will not experience expected growth and development.

Circle of Understanding We did not come into the world knowing how to do anything we can do now! I use the term Circle of Understanding to describe the area within an infant or young child’s reach where they have evolved from fragmented and disorganized patterns of behavior into a consistent and organized pattern of behavior - the “Circle of Understanding.” I am not the first to use this concept but it is so especially important. LOOKING becomes more precise during the process of development well before their physical abilities become functional. It is that part of a baby’s or young child’s visual space world in which they are first comfortable LOOKING, working, and moving. The “Circle” is a volume of space that expands and contracts throughout life as they encounter various disruptions and expansions of interest and curiosity. This “Circle” extends up, down, and side to side as their interests and curiosities take them.

Arnold Gesell said many times that physical motor actions take place long after we have visually captured, manipulated, and organized our visual space. He said that in books and papers presented to medical societies. This concept from Gesell is powerful. HOW do we learn to look, listen, feel, sniff and taste without the pathway through vision being already developed? Vision organizes the space within the Circle of Understanding. HOW we operate within that Circle depends on the visual foundations that have been established.

Development is a matter of rewriting our patterns of action toward engagement. Staying the same limits potential and thus slows development. In the early years, the developing child goes through the cycles at a much more rapid pace than in the later years. We must consider this as we attempt intervention and management. We cannot suggest to a parent that “we will see them in a year or two.” In that time, they may have attempted to progress through two or more cycles making redirection and restoration more difficult. When development becomes atypical, one must assess the impact of vision in growth and development looking deeper than strabismus and amblyopia characteristics.

Until the baby and young child develop the ability to communicate with language, handwriting skills, etc., this is the manner professions outside eye care determine milestones early in development. As the child moves through the processes of development, observations can also be made using Just Look Retinoscopy. The quality of all tasks required of a young child, young adult, and even a patient with head injury can be observed by using Just Look Retinoscopy. Just Look Retinoscopy is an observation of quality of response rather than quantity and will be discussed at a later date.

Throughout development, responses will become more immediate, full, and sustained indicating increasing value to the developing child. This is dependent upon what drives interest and curiosity or anxiety. If the response is not observed in this manner, the patient’s quality of response on expected tasks will be reduced. In this situation, ability to perform in academics, occupation, sports or other activities will likewise be reduced.

LOOKING is a continuum moving from exploration to attention. The volume of the “Circle of Understanding” changes as attention changes. The Circle may expand and decrease in size as the child becomes curious about objects and people further away. Every move along the continuum leads to a change in the volume of the Circle. As one moves toward exploration, the overall volume increases. When the move is toward attention and focus, the volume of the Circle shrinks until this curiosity is satisfied and integrated at which time the volume expands as it includes this new curiosity. Such variations should be noted in Just Look Retinoscopy and provide information regarding WHERE, WHEN, HOW, and HOW DEEP the individual is choosing to engage, the efficiency of engagement and the pace of release to move on to the next task, object or activity.

When we apply this understanding to WHEN, WHERE, HOW, HOW LONG, DEPTH, AND RELEASE of engagement, we can gather a sense of the child’s interests, curiosities, their ability to hold attention, and their ability to RELEASE to move on to the next target, object, or person. This pattern of increasing visual engagement leads development not only in the earliest stages of life but throughout all of life.

Suggested Reading

Gesell, A; Infant Vision, Scientific American, November 1950

Gesell and Amatruda; Developmental Diagnosis, 1941, Chapter 13 Blindness

Gesell, Ilg, and Bullis; Vision, Its Development in Infant and Child, 1949, 1998, 2018