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Studies show up to 70% of students with learning difficulty have a vision problem.*
This is because vision involves more than how clearly we can see letters on a chart in the distance. Academic tasks such as reading and writing are generally considered to be near visual tasks which requires text to be clear, single (no double vision) and steady. In addition, a number of other skills are important such as eye tracking & visual processing (the ability to rapidly interpret what we see) which do not fully develop until well into the teenage years. A problem in any of these areas can create a barrier to learning making it more difficult for students to progress at school.1-7
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Critical aspects of visual and auditory processing can be identified for FREE by downloading the iCept app. If problems are found then training is offered which involves doing 10 minutes of daily exercises that can be done at home or school (or both). The training is provided at low cost to parents and provides a complementary approach to other interventions or therapy programmes. Before starting training however it is important to check that hearing and near vision is normal. This may require having an assessment by an optometrist or audiologist.
WHAT ABOUT DYSLEXIA?
The app is suitable for students with dyslexia. Although current thinking is that vision is not the cause of dyslexia there is a significant body of evidence to show that training visual and auditory skills can help with the symptoms of dyslexia.8-13 Having said this, a recent study by French physicists suggests that a lack of eye dominance may play a causal role in dyslexia due to the two eyes competing with each other thus slowing down the development of the fast visual pathways necessary for rapid word identification.14 This could possibly explain the delays in visual development frequently observed in dyslexics. For more info on this click here.
“Over the last 4 years we have tried numerous things to help our son [age 12] with his learning and concentration issues – extra tutoring, holistic therapy, you name it we tried it. None of these worked for him. We then undertook the iCept program and noticed changes after him completing the first module. The more he progressed through the program the more he improved….The report that came home this week places him at National Standard level, a great improvement from a child they recommended be in a learning assist class. We have spent numerous dollars to try and help our son; this is a well-priced option that really works” – Denise (mum)
*References
1. Dusek W, Pierscionek BK, McClelland JF. A survey of visual function in an Austrian population of school-age children with reading and writing difficulties. BMC Ophthalmology 2010, 10(16).
2. Shin HS, Park SC, Park CM. Relationship between accommodative and vergence dysfunctions and academic achievement for primary school children. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics 2009, 29(6):615-624.
3. Chen A, Bleything W, Lim Y. Relating vision status to academic achievement among year-2 school children in Malaysia. Optometry 2011, 82:267-273.
4. Grisham D, Powers M, Riles P. Visual skills of poor readers in high school. Optometry 2007, 78(10):542-549.
5. Goldstrand S, Koslowe K, Parush S. Vision, visual-information processing, and academic performance among seventh-grade school children: A more significant relationship than we thought? American Journal of Occupational Therapy 2005, 59(4):377-389.
6. Raghuram A, Gowrisankaran S, Swanson E. Frequency of visual deficits in children with developmental dyslexia. JAMA Ophthalmol 2018, July. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalomol.2018.2797.
7. Hussaindeen JR, Shah P, Ramani KK, Ramanjan L. Efficacy of vision therapy in children with learning disability and associated binocular vision anomalies. J Optom 2018, 11(1):40-48.
8. Ebrahimi L, Pouretemad H, Khatibi A, Stein J. Magnocellular based visual motion training improves reading in Persian. Sci Rep 2019, 9(1):1142. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37753-7.
9. Gori S, Seitz AR, Ronconi L, Franceschini S, Facoetti A. Multiple causal links between magnocellular-dorsal pathway deficit and developmental dyslexia. Cerebral Cortex 2015, Sep 22;1-14.
10. Fischer B, Hartnegg K. Saccade control in dyslexia: development, deficits, training and transfer to reading.Optom & Vis Devel 2008, 39(4):181-190.
11. Burkhart Fischer, Andrea Köngeter, Klaus Hartnegg. Effects of daily practice on subitizing, visual Counting, and basic arithmetic skills. Optom Vis Dev 2008:39(1):30-34.
12. Terri Lawton, Improving dorsal stream function in dyslexics by training figure/ground motion discrimination improves attention, reading fluency, and working memory. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10: 397.
13. Schäffler T, Sonntage J, Hartnegg K, Fischer B. The effect of practice on low-level auditory discrimination, phonological skills, and spelling in dyslexia. Dyslexia 2004, 10(2):119-30.
14. Le Floch A, Ropars G. Left-right asymemetry of the Maxwell spot centroids in adults without and with dyslexia.Proc Biol Sci 2017, 284(1865)