Good vision is vital to reading well. And although vision may not be the only cause of reading difficulties, it is one that is often overlooked.
As a part of our therapy program, we build our patient’s skills up from the ground level. We teach the eyes how to function alone, then as a team, then involve more difficult skills such as visualization and visual memory. Both fine and gross motor are also incorporated. By the end of our individualized therapy program, the patient has all of the necessary tools in their vision skills toolbox, as well as the knowledge and self awareness to know when to use a specific tool they have now gained!
Reading & Learning for Kids
80% of kids struggling with reading will have trouble with how their eyes track, move, or work together. If your child’s eyes cannot track properly, they will not be able to see the words the same way you do.
Their eyes may jump to the last letter, then back to the first, or jump through the word in some other random order. If the eyes aren’t perfectly aligned, each eye may end up jumping to a different letter, further confusing your young reader.
Reading
Up to 80% of struggling readers are lacking visual skills. If the eyes can’t track accurately through the text, reading becomes difficult. These problems can mimic other learning disabilities.
Writing
Messy writing with bad spacing? Vision problems can cause writing to be messy with unequal spacing, reversed letters, or slow output. It is also a leading cause of trouble copying off the board.
Attention
If the eyes don’t work well together, it takes more energy to try to stay focused. It’s like trying to ride a bike with flat tires. These vision problems cause 7 of the 9 symptoms of attention deficit disorder.
Spelling
‘Fonetik‘ spelling? If a child doesn’t have good visual memory abilities, spelling will often be phonetic or random. Less than 50% of the English language is phonetic so visual memory skills are a must.
Reading & Learning for Adults
Your brain needs to accurately decode your vision. This includes things like visual memory for spelling and directionality for understanding letter reversals.
Because reading problems usually have multiple causes, treatment must often be multidisciplinary. Educators, psychologists, optometrists and other professionals often must work together to meet each person’s needs.
The optometrist’s role is to help overcome any vision problems interfering with the ability to read. This may require the use of corrective spectacles and/or the implementation of a variety of eye exercises.
Vision Problems Can Look Like:
Anxiety / Fatigue
When the eyes struggle to work together or track smoothly, it places extra cognitive strain on your brain, leading to increased anxiety & fatigue. These vision-related issues often go unnoticed & can be mistaken for generalized stress or exhaustion.
Dyslexia
If the information does not make it accurately from the page to the brain, it will cause problems learning the written language. Too often testing assumes that vision is working properly, and diagnoses a problem higher up the chain.
ADD / ADHD
Children with ADHD who also had eye teaming problems were found to score lower on the ADHD testing once the eye teaming problems were treated. 7 of the 9 symptoms of ADHD can be caused by a vision problem.
Learning Disability
If the brain doesn’t take in or process vision accurately, it can cause difficulties in learning that range from mild to severe. In the process of diagnosing a learning disability, these visual functions are often overlooked.
Knowledge is Key
Read our Blog Articles regarding Reading and Learning
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