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vision  and  learning

Vision  and  Learning

VISION AND LEARNING
Most people think that a child who has passed the annual school vision screening has "good vision" and can see the board and his textbooks clearly.

Unfortunately, this is a serious misconception because the traditional school eye exam doesn't test aspects of vision required for reading. And sadly, the perception that everything's okay can mask significant learning-related vision problems.

Experts estimate that 10% to 15% of school-age children have vision problems significant enough to interfere with academic performance. For children with learning problems, the figures are as high as 30% to 60%. And many of these children have passed the annual school vision screening with flying colors.

The key to understanding the relationship between vision and learning is realizing that vision is more than just being able to see the letters on the 20/20 line of a chart placed 20 feet away. Visual problems can be divided into two broad categories  visual efficiency and visual processing.

VISUAL EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS
These kinds of sight problems interfere with a child's ability to clearly and comfortably see and take in information for sustained periods of time. Many of these problems don't surface until the upper elementary grades or junior high, when children are required to cover significantly more reading material.

Visual efficiency problems include problems with focusing, tracking and eye teaming.

VISUAL PROCESSING PROBLEMS
These problems have to do with the child making sense of incoming visual information. They include difficulty with laterality, directionality, visual form perception, visual memory, and visual motor integration.

In contrast to visual efficiency disorders, many of which surface in the middle grades, visual processing problems tend to sabotage learning for children in the early grades even kindergartners. Children with visual processing problems may be difficult to teach because they fail to understand and grasp basic concepts and ideas.

TREATMENT
A full evaluation by a professional who has the expertise to test for both visual efficiency and visual processing disorders is the only way to detect some vision problems. When one of these hidden problems does exist, treatment involving eyeglasses, vision therapy, or both can correct it.

Glasses are generally effective for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. They can also correct some types of focusing and eye teaming disorders. In fact, 85% to 90% of people with vision problems are treated with glasses.

However, the other 10% to 15% require vision therapy. This therapeutic approach involves a series of treatments that includes using special instruments and activities under close supervision.

It is important to understand that optometrists don't specifically treat reading or learning problems. But along with extra help or tutoring from parents and teachers, an optometrist can correct the vision problems that may be blocking the possibility of learning.
SPOTTING HIDDEN VISUAL EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS
Condition

Teaming disorders
(binocular vision) A variety of conditions in which the eyes tend to drift inward, outward, or upward
Symptoms

  • Has intermittent double vision
  • Closes or covers one eye
  • Says letters or words appear to move
  • Loses place
  • Is inattentive
  • Rubs eyes
  • Has watery eyes
  • Complains of blurred vision
  • Has poor reading comprehension

Focusing disorders
(accommodation) The inability to contract or relax the eyes' focusing muscles

  • Has blurred vision when looking from board to book or book to board.
  • Holds things very close
  • Has headaches when reading
  • Is tired at the end of the day
  • Is inattentive
  • Rubs eyes
  • Has watery eyes
  • Complains of blurred vision
  • Has poor reading comprehension

Tracking disorders
(saccadic dysfunction) Inadequate ability to scan along a line of print and move the eyes from one point in space to another

  • Moves head excessively when reading
  • Loses place frequently
  • Skips lines when reading
  • Uses finger to keep place
  • Has poor reading comprehension
  • Has short attention span
SPOTTING HIDDEN PROCESSING DISORDERS
Condition

Directionality and Laterality Problems
Poor development of right/left awareness
Symptoms

  • Has trouble learning right and left
  • May read either left to right or right to left
  • Reverses letters and words
  • Has trouble writing and remembering letters and numbers

Faulty Visual Form Perception
The inability to discriminate among different shapes

  • Confuses likenesses and minor differences
  • Mistakes words with similar beginnings
  • Can't recognize the same word repeated on a page
  • Can't recognize letters or even simple forms
  • Can't distinguish the main idea from insignificant details
  • Has trouble learning the alphabet recognizing math facts, and learning basic math concepts of size, magnitude, and position

Faulty Visual Memory
Inability to remember what is seen

  • Has trouble visualizing what is read
  • Has poor comprehension skills
  • Has trouble learning new material Is a poor speller
  • Has poor recall of visually presented material
  • Has trouble with tasks that require more than one step
  • Has trouble with mathematical concepts
  • Has trouble with spelling and with sight vocabulary

Faulty Visual Motor Integration
The inability to process and reproduce visual images by writing or drawing

  • Has sloppy writing and drawing skills
  • Can't space letters or stay on lines
  • Has poor copying skills
  • Erases excessively
  • Can respond orally but not in writing
  • Seems to know material but does poorly on tests
Contact Us:
Phone: 856-988-1118
Fax: 856-988-0947
Email
701 Route 73 North, Suite 3
Marlton, NJ 08053

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