Understanding Vision And Dyslexia
Children and adults with dyslexia usually have normal healthy eyes. However, a substantial number of individuals with dyslexia have other visual problems. These problems may include inadequate development of function in the visual system, associated pathways, and brain.
People with dyslexia often have difficulty with phonemic processing, which can make it challenging for them to connect sounds to letters or letter combinations when reading and spelling. But they can still have a problem with how their eyes move and how their eyes work together and align. Binocular vision problems and dyslexia can share similar symptoms. These may include excelling at listening-based learning but struggling with reading, skipping words or letters, losing one’s place while reading, rubbing the eyes, or experiencing eye fatigue or headaches during reading. Both conditions can lead to slow or hesitant reading, confusion with words, challenges in writing, or difficulty learning to read.
What Parents Can Do To Help
Parents can turn to places like Family Eyecare Solutions to find answers about their child’s learning challenges. Many parents express gratitude after their child’s evaluation, as it provides clarity on the underlying issues. If no vision problems are identified, Family Eyecare Solutions offers dyslexia screenings and can refer families to school counselors or other professionals for further support.
Dr. Laura emphasized, “We don’t treat dyslexia, but many children misdiagnosed with it may actually have a vision problem affecting their learning.” She also noted that these issues, whether related to vision or dyslexia, are not something children simply “grow out of.” If left untreated, adults may continue to face the impact of these challenges.
“Developmental dyslexia is the selective impairment of reading skills despite normal intelligence, sensory acuity, and instruction. Several perceptual studies have suggested that dyslexic subjects process visual information more slowly than normal subjects. Such visual abnormalities were reported to be found in more than 75% of the reading-disabled children tested.”Although dyslexia is a reading disorder, it is not limited to language.
Recent research has demonstrated the significance of visual information processing in dyslexia. The visual factors associated with dyslexia include spatial perception, timing, and rhythm. These problems may also be manifested when catching a ball, maintaining orientation for balance, tying shoelaces, and in tendencies to be accident prone, distractible or absent minded.
Dr. Laura, a Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (FOVDR), has a special interest in the relationship between vision and learning and a thorough “vision” examination of functions which are necessary to process visual information meaningfully. This comprehensive evaluation of vision leads to recommended management strategies including vision therapy, the application of lenses and prisms, and/or appropriate referral to other professionals.