The Vision Development Center Inc

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Vision Related Learning Problems

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Vision and Learning

The visual demands on our children require more than just being able to see a certain size of letter on the eye chart from a distance of 20 feet ("20/20"). In fact, 80% of learning depends upon good vision. So it is important that parents understand the signs and symptoms of vision problems that interfere with learning.
Vision problems affect one out of four children and 60% of children who struggle with reading.

I would like to share a few stories with you which I hope will give you some insight.

Natalie Natalie was a very slow reader. Despite working with a tutor twice a week for over a year, she still continued to struggle.

Ben Ben had trouble paying attention and his parents were uncomfortable with putting him on ADHD medication which the doctor had recommended. Homework took forever and there were constant battles to keep him on task.

Brittany Brittany excelled in math but was 2 years behind in reading. She would skip words and had difficulty understanding what she read. The bottom line - she hated reading. But she seemed to do better when she was read to.

Cory Cory was insecure and moody. Other children in his class teased him because he could not read or write as well as they could. Even though an IQ test placed him above average, he'd say, "I'm too stupid" or "I can't do it" when asked to do reading, writing, or arithmetic.

Each of these children struggled with undiagnosed vision problems (even though they passed the vision screening). Now each of these children are excelling because the vision problems were remedied through vision therapy. We are working hard to educate our patients and people in the community, that the standard vision screening only tests for distance vision and doesn't tell us if a child actually has all the visual skills required for reading and learning.

Can vision therapy cure ADD/ADHD and dyslexia?
Vision therapy does not cure ADD/ADHD nor dyslexia. Children who have been diagnosed with these conditions and were helped by vision therapy, have remedied a visual disorder which was incorrectly diagnosed as ADD/ADHD or dyslexia. Children who don't have efficient visual systems tend to show little interest in reading ageappropriate books, tend to take a long time to finish homework and would rather be actively doing anything else. It takes so much mental energy for children with learning related vision problems to actually see and translate each word, that comprehension and meaning fails.