Vision’s Impact on Learning

According to the American Optometric Association, up to 80% of what a child learns is through their visual system.  However, the Snellen chart (the 20/20 eye chart) alone will only identify 5% of the vision problems in children. Studies show 1 in 10 children have vision problems significant enough to impact learning.

Despite this, children with learning-related vision problems usually don’t tell a parent or teacher they have a problem. This is because they don’t realize how they are supposed to see letters, numbers, or objects. Children may see them doubled, blurred, or backwards and think that is how everyone sees. In other cases, they may lose their spot and think that indicates they aren’t smart when instead their eyes aren’t moving across the page appropriately.

Symptoms:

• Complains of blurred vision
• Rubs eyes frequently
• Squints

Possible Vision Problems

Nearsightedness
Farsightedness
Astigmatism
(inability to see clearly in the distance or up close)

Symptoms:

• Closes or covers one eye
• Occasionally sees double
• Rubs eyes frequently
• Able to read for only a short time
• Poor reading comprehension

Possible Vision Problems

Eye teaming problems
(inability to coordinate the eyes together effectively)

Symptoms:

• Eye teaming problems
• (inability to coordinate the eyes together effectively)

Possible Vision Problems

Eye focusing problems
(inability to easily refocus eyes or maintain clear focus)

Symptoms:

• Moves head excessively when reading
• Frequently loses place, skips lines when reading
• Uses finger to keep place
• Poor reading comprehension
• Short attention span

Possible Vision Problems

Eye tracking problems
(inadequate ability to smoothly and accurately move the eyes from one point to another)

Symptoms:

• Mistakes words with similar beginnings
• Difficulty recognizing letters, words, or simple shapes and forms
• Can’t distinguish the main idea from insignificant details
• Trouble learning basic math concepts of size, magnitude, and position

Possible Vision Problems

Faulty visual form perception
(inability to discriminate differences in size, shape, or form)

Symptoms:

• Trouble visualizing what is read- Poor reading comprehension
• Poor speller
• Trouble with mathematical concepts
• Poor recall of visually presented material

Possible Vision Problems

Faulty visual memory
(inability to remember and understand what is seen)

Symptoms:

• Sloppy handwriting and drawing
• Can’t stay on lines
• Poor copying skills
• Can respond orally but not in writing

Possible Vision Problems

Faulty visual motor integration
(inability to process and reproduce visual images by writing or drawing)

Symptoms:

• Trouble learning right and left
• Reverses letters and words
• Trouble writing and remembering letters and numbers

Possible Vision Problems

Difficulty with laterality and directionality
(poor development of left/right awareness)