My Child Is Near-Sighted. Will Glasses Correct His/Her Learning Problem?

There is controversy in the exact relationship of vision to learning. For example there is a negative correlation between distance refractive error and reading ability. Myopic or nearsighted children who cannot see clearly at a distance without glasses are more commonly good readers. Children who spend  tremendous amounts of time reading become nearsighted. Before Alaska became a state myopia was rare. After becoming a state, more than 50 percent of the children in Alaska developed nearsightedness. Thus, correlation is such that nearsightedness or poor distance vision is highly correlated with success in reading. Restated another way, poor distance vision is associated with better reading abilities.  Farsighted children statistically are poorer readers than myopic children.

What is the Relationship between Eye Muscle Problems and Learning?

Some of the mechanical visual skills which are related to reading include focusing or accommodation, and eye teaming, or convergence. Fatigue of one or both the systems may interfere with reading. There is also a relationship between eye movement skills such as saccades (whereby we change fixation from one target to the next) and smooth following movements known as pursuits and reading. Children who cannot make accurate eye movements are often found to skip lines and words while reading. 

The visual system was originally designed so that the peripheral vision was responsive to motion detection (danger from the jungles) with a central portion for fine discrimination (to identify the source of danger; e.g., a lion.) In the school environment the child is expected to ignore the peripheral portion of their visual system and pay attention with the central portion. If the child can not ignore the peripheral portion, he/she becomes distracted.  Improvement in eye movement skills often results in less distraction and fewer errors of skipping words while reading.

My Child Loses His/Her Place. Is That Related to the Eyes?

Reading requires very accurate saccadics, which are fixations from one spot to another.  A second type of eye movement which involves tracking is, also, related to attention and reading.  Children who have poor eye movements are easily distracted and loose their place.  Remember, the eye movement system was designed so that peripheral vision detects motion and danger.  Imagine what happens when the system works correctly in the class room.  As soon as there is peripheral movement, the eyes move toward the source of movement. This results in the complaint of inattention.  Thus, reflexive eye movement skills must be socialized so that they do not respond reflexively to peripheral information.  In addition, speed and accuracy must be trained so that one does not lose one’s place.

The skills are easily improvable with vision therapy.  Once the information is brought into the eyes, it must be sent back to the brain for appropriate processing. The information must be utilized and integrated with the sensory and motor areas of the brain. Defects in the perceptual (interpretation of visual system) and motor (the integration with output, e.g., hand-eye coordination) may interfere with the reading process. Perceptual motor skills are key in the early acquisition of reading skills. A deficit is important to identify very early on-- i.e., five to seven years of age. Remediation of the skills at a later date, such as age 12, will be less effective on reading. Thus, early identification and treatment is essential. It is evident that there is more to good vision than 20/20.

My Child Reverses Letters and Words. Does He See Backwards?

It has been presumed that children who reverse letters or words see them backwards.  This is false.  They have directional confusion.  In the real world direction has no meaning.  For example, a chair is a chair no matter which way it is placed.  Changing direction does not change interpretation.  In the world of language direction changes meaning.  Connect the bottom of a chair and it looks like a "b".  Turn it 180 degrees it becomes a "d", flip it upside down and it becomes a "q" and flip it again it becomes a "p".  Thus, direction changes meaning.  The difference between "was" and "saw" is direction.

What Are the Other Visual Components Necessary for Academic Achievement?

As mentioned previously, we should correct all optical errors of the eyes (glasses); eliminate eye muscle problems; and create smooth accurate eye movements.  In addition, we should make sure that we properly interpret what we see and use it appropriately.  These are known collectively as perceptual skills and include form perception, size and shape recognition, visual memory, and visual motor integration (hand-eye coordination.)

Vision Therapy Information

Some visual conditions cannot be treated adequately with just glasses, contact lenses and/or patching, and are best resolved through a program of Vision Therapy.

What is Vision Therapy?

Vision Therapy is an individualized, supervised, treatment program designed to correct visual-motor and/or perceptual-cognitive deficiencies. Vision Therapy sessions include procedures designed to enhance the brain's ability to control:

• eye alignment
• eye teaming
• eye focusing abilities
• eye movements
• visual processing

Visual-motor skills and endurance are developed through the use of specialized computer and optical devices, including therapeutic lenses, prisms, and filters. During the final stages of therapy, the patient's newly acquired visual skills are reinforced and made automatic through repetition and by integration with motor and cognitive skills.

Who Can Benefit From Vision Therapy?

Patients of all ages can benefit from vision therapy. The nature of the therapy program varies with the condition treated. For example, a three-year-old child with amblyopia, or "lazy eye", may simply have the better eye patched for a short period of time. An eight-year-old child with strabismus, or "crossed eye", may require therapy for a period of a year. A thirty-year-old computer programmer may require three to six months to solve a visual problem that causes significant eye strain.

Children and adults with visual challenges such as the following are often benefitted by vision therapy.

Learning-related Vision Problems

Vision Therapy can help those individuals who lack the necessary visual skills for effective reading, writing, and learning (i.e., eye movement and focusing skills, convergence, eye-hand activity, visual memory skills, etc.).

To learn more about vision-related learning problems, visit any of these web pages on reading, ADD/ADHD, tracking or convergence insufficiency.

Poor Binocular Coordination

Vision Therapy helps individuals develop normal coordination and teamwork of the two eyes (binocular vision). When the two eyes fail to work together as an effective team, performance in many areas can suffer (reading, sports, depth perception, eye contact, etc.).

To learn more about binocular vision, visit these web pages on 3D vision and depth perception, convergence insufficiency or The Framing Game.

Strabismus and Amblyopia

Vision Therapy programs offer much higher cure rates for turned eyes and/or lazy eye when compared to eye surgery, glasses, and/or patching, without therapy. The earlier the patient receives Vision Therapy the better.

To learn more about crossed eyes or lazy eye, visit the many web pages of strabismus.org, children-special-needs.org or lazyeye.org.

Find out about eye muscle surgery as a treatment option for crossed eyes and lazy eye.

Stress-induced Visual Difficulties

21st century lifestyles demand more from our vision than ever before. Children and adults in our technological society constantly use their near vision at work and at home. C.V.S. (Computer Vision Syndrome) is one of the fastest growing health concerns in the workplace today. Environmental stresses on the visual system (including excessive computer use or close work) can induce eyestrain, headaches, and/or visual difficulties which can be effectively treated with corrective lenses and/or Vision Therapy.

Visual Rehabilitation for Special Populations

Vision can be compromised as a result of neurological disorders or trauma to the nervous system (such as traumatic brain injuries, stroke, whiplash, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc.). Vision Therapy can effectively treat the visual consequences of trauma (including double vision).

To learn more about brain injuries and vision, visit braininjuries.org.

Sports Vision Improvement

Strong visual skills are critical to sports success. Not much happens in sports until your eyes instruct your hands and body what to do! Accurate vision and athletic visual skills can be measured, developed, and enhanced through Vision Therapy. Vision Therapy can be the answer to many visual problems. Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions. To read definitions for Vision Therapy by outside sources, visit children-special-needs.org.