People suffering from reading difficulties usually have higher than normal problems in visual cognition, including visual stress, accommodative insufficiency, binocular instability and several others, according to a Grand Blanc MI optometrist.
Some impairment are not readily seen because other aspects of the visual acuity may prove within normal ranges during tests, so that the effects of these impairments are attributed to other causes such as fatigue, stress, and physical disorders or ailments.
Likewise any Sandusky MI optometrist can tell you diabetes mellitus, for instance, may be a significant factor in vision problems, so that it is often pointed at as the cause of such vision problems.
Which, of course, is not necessarily true in all cases? Fortunately, vision impairment due to degeneration of tissues is not common in children, and no evidence has been found to relate visual impairment with reading difficulties such as dyslexia.
Nonetheless, the symptoms may be interpreted as neurological indicators, so much so that their sudden appearance should point the optometrist to other possible causes, especially when accompanied by changes in the general health condition of the child.
Visual acuity Many children who have learning difficulties have low visual acuity, usually characterized by blurred vision or doubling vision.
But being inexperienced about these matters, a good percentage of them do not even know they have impaired vision, until others inform them so.
For many, simple corrective lenses usually remedy the refractive errors of the eyes, and they improve in their performance.
Moreover, other impairments like strabismus or amblyopia are often corrected by sensory adaptations, where the other ocular motor muscles compensate for the anomalies.
In strabismus, for example, visual dependency may be centered only on one eye which, though possible to reduce binocular vision, could also enhance reading capability.
Binocular instability, accommodative issues This impairment is characterized by the movement of binocular vision, usually focusing and blurring the object in view.
A study showed that about 15% of dyslexic children have binocular instability, while it happens only about 5% to children of normal vision.
Similar to this is accommodative impairment, when the eye fails to focus as fast as normal or at all when shifting from looking at distant objects to the near ones.
However, this last defect may also be caused by non-optometric reasons, such as short-term memory lapses.
Conclusion Because such 'minor' defects in a child's visual acuity may not be readily discernible, it is best to have the child's eyes examined when the symptoms are detected, or the manifestations are suspected.
Underachievement in school may only be one of these manifestations, and others could range from difficulties in seeing things to propensity to err in vision-related activities.
It is likewise advised to refer these vision-problematic individuals to the appropriate professionals, those with the specialized background and capabilities to conduct detailed and technical examinations to detect these visual impairments.
Tackling any defect found -either by treatment or correction- can help the affected individual to achieve more in all aspects of his life.
Vision is one of the senses that is simply the most terrible to lose.