Vision is more than the ability to see 20/20 on the eye chart. Reading the eye chart clearly and accurately is good but that isn’t all vision does for us.

Good vision requires your eyesight, your visual pathways, and brain to all work in harmony. When they don’t, even a person with 20/20 eyesight can experience difficulty reading, writing and processing information. This can lead to difficulties with attention, comprehension, memory and a child’s overall ability to learn.

A child with vision related learning problems is likely to spend hours doing homework that should only take 30 minutes.

A child with visual difficulties may do 1 of 3 things to cope in the classroom

1. The child may simply choose not to do the work. Past experience has proven to be unsuccessful. So what’s the point of trying?
2. They may force themselves to do the school work, but no learning is actually taking place. Comprehension is poor, and so is performance and grades.
3. Children having difficulties with near vision tend to over focus to a level that it impairs their ability to see properly in the distance.

Vision therapy helps children develop the visual skills needed for clear, comfortable, easy vision. Each child learns, via vision therapy, to correctly process the visual information that the brain receives from the eyes, leading to better eye teaming skills, focusing, tracking and visualization. These are important areas that if left neglected can lead to learning related vision problems.

The 5 most common signs that a vision problem may be interfering with your child’s ability to read and learn are:

1. Skips lines or re-reads lines
2. Poor reading comprehension
3. Homework takes longer than it should
4. Reverses letters like ‘B’s’&’D’s’
5. Short attention span with reading and schoolwork

ADD/ADHD or a Vision Problem?

It is often recommended that AD(H)D be treated symptomatically with stimulant medication. These medications simply mask the problem rather than get to the underlying causes.

It is highly recommended that individuals diagnosed with AD(H)D have a complete evaluation by a behavioral optometrist. Signs and symptoms typically associated with AD(H)D are similar to signs and symptoms of individuals with learning-related visual problems.