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Visual Dysfunction Signs and Symptoms Checklist

Approximately 1 in every 4 school aged child in the US has an undiagnosed vision disorder that inhibits efficient learning. ~American Optometric Association

Typically, children don't complain about visual problems as readily as physical problems. This is primarily because they think everyone's vision is the same and they don't realize they are at a disadvantage compared to their peers. We have often heard of conversations like, "How can you see that?" and the typical reply "You mean, you can't see that?" We are astounded at the differences in vision between one another.

Frequently, the classroom teacher is the best observer for identifying vision problems that tend to interfere with school work. The following checklist identifies many of the observable clues and symptoms that are often observed in a child with a vision related learning problem for which vision therapy could be beneficial.

Headaches when reading	Difficulty with word recognition
Eyes hurt, burn, tear or itch	Reverses letters and numbers when reading/writing
Eye(s) turned in or out at any time	Child doesn't know his right from left side
Blinks excessively during near tasks	Transposes letters and/or numbers (12 for 21)
Print blurs when reading or copying from the board	Failure to complete work in allotted time
Rubs eyes frequently when doing up close tasks	Poor printing or handwriting
Gets very tired after short periods of reading	Mistakes words with similar beginnings and endings
Reading comprehension decreases with time	Confuses words
Avoids near work (reading, writing)	Repeatedly omits small words; a, an, the, of
Child hates to read	Fails to recognize the same word in later sentences
Holds book too close to face when reading	Says words aloud or moves lips while reading
Sits in awkward positions when reading	Child shows lack of coordination when playing sports
Complains of seeing double	Child is clumsy and trips/falls a lot
Difficulty copying from the board	Child is in special education classes
Squints or covers one eye when reading	Child has repeated a year of school
Frowns or squints to see the board	School performance not up to potential
Uses finger or marker to keep place	Reading below grade level
Often loses place, skips or rereads words	Has low self esteem, poor self image
Reads too slowly	Gives up easily or doesn't attempt the task
Sees print "running together" or "moving around"	Cries frequently or has temper tantrums
Moves head excessively as reads across the page	Short attention span, easily distracted
Complains that eyes feel like they are "pulling"	Child gets easily frustrated

1-5 checks: Visual problem suspect- Submit checklist to child's teacher for other behaviors seen in class.
6+ checks: Visual problem highly likely- Binocular vision and visual perception evaluation recommended.

You can print this checklist with your checks in place for your teacher to use.