There’s more to vision than just the eyes. A range of skills combine to make sense of what is seen, recall it when needed, and act on it. When there are problems with visual skills, children may exhibit symptoms that are very similar to dyslexia or ADHD as they struggle to keep up with their peers in a world where processing what they see is an uphill battle.

Australian behavioural optometrist and fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), Gary Rodney says that he’s had first-hand experience of the difference vision therapy can make in children’s lives. “They can seem like completely different individuals. They move from a situation in which they’re behind in their learning, frequently in trouble for making mistakes, and constantly struggling at school to one where they can fulfil their potential. It really is life-changing.”

However, Gary says that one of the biggest problems is a lack of awareness. “Parents and teachers often consider poor eyesight as a possible reason why children struggle at school, but they may not realise that clear eyesight isn’t enough.”

Visual skills range from the ability to “track” lines of text systematically, to depth perception, spotting differences between one thing and another, and remembering what one sees. When they’re lacking, they can be developed, and Gary has witnessed astonishing changes in many of his young patients as a result.

  Improved Academic Performance

It’s impossible to do well at school when visual skills aren’t properly developed, but with training, the first improvement that parents and teachers notice is improved academic ability. For the children themselves, the change must be even more rewarding. From facing schooldays packed with impossible challenges and frustrations to dealing comfortably with the tasks that have been set for them, there’s no doubt that acquiring the necessary visual abilities is a big win for them.

  Better Coordination

Adults will often shrug off a child’s poor coordination as nothing more than clumsiness when it’s really a symptom of his or her need for vision therapy. From the child’s perspective, there’s embarrassment, failure, and little enjoyment in sports participation. After all, it’s not fun being the kid who always drops the ball or misses an easy goal. With the limiting factor that lay behind poor coordination moved out of the way, it becomes possible to do better at sports and have more fun at play.

  More Self-Confidence

Always feeling like they are the ones who are lagging behind their peers can’t be very pleasant for children with visual skills issues. Trying hard and repeatedly failing to do schoolwork correctly, often being in trouble because adults think they’re ‘careless,’ or ‘naughty,’ and possibly having to endure teasing from schoolmates is sure to hurt self-confidence. Needless to say, overcoming their difficulties and discovering that they’re able to hold their own in any setting must certainly be a huge relief for children who have benefited from vision therapy.

  Do Better Socially

“One can often see the difference,” says Gary. “Children blossom. At first, they’ll be shy, quiet, even sullen. But as they uncover their potential, they also come out of their shells. It’s as if they’ve entered a better, brighter, happier world. It’s one of the things that makes vision therapy so rewarding for all concerned: the therapist, the parents, and of course, the child.”

There are some inspiring case studies on the Smart Vision Optometry website, and those who would like to learn more about how vision therapy benefits children are welcome to view the videos posted there.

For more information on behavioural optometry, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Treating Two Similar Issues Separately

However, Rodney says that despite having so much in common, the two are classified and treated very differently.

The vision problems are considered to be the result of errors in the data sent by the eyes to the brain’s visual system for processing into meaningful images. Dyslexia, on the other hand, is considered by practitioners to be a language-based learning disability with its informational roots in the ears. As a result it is being identified as completely different from visual problems, despite its similar impact on spelling, writing, reading, and speaking because it involves the processing of sound rather than sight. It is seen as hiccoughs in the ears’ message to the brain, or in the brain’s attempts to match and process the graphic symbols and sounds of speech and letters (particularly when heard in different languages) in such a way as to provide recognizable and usable information.

He says vision problems and dyslexia were previously thought to be identified as being brought about by different brain systems, and attributed to failures in different processing systems, until studies in the last few years revealed that both vision and sound are processed in the visual system, and the same approach to processing information is taken.

Data is collected separately by eyes and the ears, and contributed to the “libraries” of data amassed by the brain as part of its reference archive. This enables the brain to draw on information to place, interpret, identify, and understand what is seen and heard and pass this information back to the ears that heard or eyes that saw as understandable and usable.

In some situations the brain will even draw on sounds to position the images and improve the interpretation of what is seen, specially when sounds can boost the importance or relevance of what is seen, and vice versa, as in assisting in the recognition of letters.

The Advantages of Teamwork

Rodney stresses the importance of the teamwork between the brain, the eyes and the ears, as well as in the treatment chosen to deal with processing problems in vision errors or language disabilities because of the close connection between them.

“ I find it hard to understand why many therapists and other practitioners dealing with dyslexia still believe that there is no connection at all between dyslexia and vision problems, and therefore no need to consider the possibility of investigating vision problems and their treatments when seeking to correct dyslexia,” he said.

He says separating the two leaves the door open to misdiagnosis and unsatisfactory treatment results. And at the same time it can lessen the chances of detection and treatment of companion vision problems like convergence and eye tracking which could either be presenting similar impacts, or contributing to the impact of dyslexia.

For more information on vision impairments, dyslexia and the global threat imposed by them, or to make an appointment for a consultation, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

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Entering the School Years a Step or Two Behind

Rodney and Gattegno agree this means that many children head off to school a few steps behind their peers, simply because they do not see the world or anything in it in the same way their classmates do. Instead everything is blurred or not processed appropriately visually. This can lead to a number of learning problems as well as causing the children to feel uncomfortable in several areas.

“They’re facing a whole new world when they enter school, and tend to lose confidence when they feel they are not performing as well as their new friends. Reading can become difficult and other learning skills can lag, and they don’t know why this is happening. So many of them may start to show behavioural problems or avoid engagement with a process that seems too hard. Some don’t want to read, and many don’t want to take up sports,” Rodney and Gattegno explained.  

A Question of Distance

Two of the most commonly known of the eye problems, which together with other eye problems affect around 22% or more of Australians under 14, are myopia and hyperopia. Both cause children to have blurry vision, either when trying to view something at a distance, which is the case with myopia (nearsightedness), or when looking at something close up, when they are farsighted (hyperopia). Both are refraction errors caused by the light rays focus in front of the retina or behind it, but not on it as it should.

On school screenings however, Rodney and Gattegno have found that optical blur only accounts for 11% of all other vision problems. There are far more issues with both functional vision skills and perceptual vision skills. So looking at refractive error alone will not identify the vast majority of vision road blocks to reading and learning.

How to See the Signs 

Parents can be on the watch for certain give-away signs that their children have problems with visual function or visual processing of things at different distances. Some are easily visible in physical actions.

These include a tendency to move very close to what they are trying to see, like when watching TV, or bring books close to their eyes when they are trying to read.  Children with eye problems may also lose their place while reading a book, let their eyes follow the words using a finger to guide them, or take to avoiding the things its too difficult to do. This could include books or perhaps sports because the blur creeps in and makes it too difficult because the focus called for is not comfortable for them, according to Rodney and Gattegno.

They may also squint, or tip their head to one side to allow the stronger eye to do the work, so allowing the weaker eye to become “lazy” and deteriorate even more.

Rodney said that difficulty focusing could also lead to frequent headaches, light sensitivity and complaints about “sore eyes”. It can also result in avoidance in response to suggestions that they read a book, or work on a computer, a while this might sometimes be taken as bad behaviour, it could turn out to be the very real effect of an eye problem.  

What Parents Can Do

Armed with these warning signs, they can then approach leading optometrists like those at Gary Rodney’s and Jacqueline Gattegno’s Smart Vision clinics in Sydney, or call one of the Eyes In Design NSW clinics at Bondi (02) 9365 5047 or Mosman (02) 9969 1600.

They can also visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists whose major focus is on the effects of perceptual and functional vision problems in children.  

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Statistics show that one out of two children and adults around the world with learning and perceptual problems are being diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome and treated accordingly. But researchers and leading behavioural optometrists like Australian expert Gary Rodney are now questioning whether these statistics paint the true (and only) picture of what’s causing perceptual problems, or whether they are the result of misdiagnoses caused by inadequate eye tests.

What is Irlen Syndrome?

Irlen Syndrome is seen as a neurological condition which causes the brain to become over-active or over-stimulated and result in a communication breakdown between it and eyes which affects the way people perceive, and therefore process, what they see. In turn, this can lead to attention deficit, handwriting, visual distortion when reading, and problems with comprehension and accuracy. Other symptoms and indicators include sensitivity to light, headaches when reading, and seeing distorted images and words on pages. Treatments involve the use of colour filter overlays which cut out specific light wave lengths to which the client is believed to have excessive retinal sensitivity. 

Irlen Diagnoses Based on Subjective Responses

Gary Rodney, and an increasing number of researchers and optometrists, are not challenging the theory behind the Irlen Syndrome, or the treatment offered by Irlen diagnosticians. However they do question whether the diagnoses and treatment are justified and accurate as both are determined purely on the basis of subjective responses from those experiencing the symptoms and undergoing the treatment and there is no actual objective evidence to back either up. 

In these circumstances, Rodney said, the validity of the answers and report-backs could be affected by the Hawthorne Effect which suggests that people react differently when they know they are being watched.

Is Irlen Treating the Symptoms or the Cause?

Rodney, the founder of the Smart Vision approach to optometry in Australia, said this subjective approach had taken its toll on the comprehensive nature of routine optometric eye tests, causing some optometrists to exclude tests and screenings which could lead to an objective diagnosis based on real evidence regarding those eye function anomalies which show the same symptoms treated by Irlen filters, and respond well to eye therapy. 

Without this screening, he said optometrists cannot easily detect anomalies like binocular vision in which the eyes stop working together as a team, so affecting their ability to and provide single vision and good depth perception. Nor can they pick up accommodative insufficiency which makes it difficult or impossible to change the focus easily between distance and close-up viewing, a function usually accomplished by changes in the eyes’ lens shape or sustain focus when reading without effort. 

And according to two separate studies on the efficacy of the Irlen Syndrome filter treatment, screening showed a large percentage of those who had qualified to undergo it had this type of undetected visual anomaly. The percentages stood at 83% according to Taub et al, and 95% in the Scheiman et al study. 

For behavioural optometrist Gary Rodney, the ability to perceive correctly what you are seeing and.visually concentrating without mental effort is as important as being able to see it. 

For more information on the Irlen Syndrome and other vision problems, visit the Smart Vision website, Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision, or call one of the three Smart Vision NSW clinics at Bondi (02) 9365 5047, Mosman (02) 9969 1600 or Pennant Hills (02) 9481 0449.

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DYSLEXIA

We see vision as different to sight. It is the bit that happens in the brain after the eyes have seen the stimuli; the process that allows us to perceive, process and comprehend.

Dyslexia is a little more complicated to define. It seems that the term dyslexia means something different depending on who you ask. As the super sleuth I am, I decided to ask around and I definitely got varying responses:

– I asked a teacher and her response was that dyslexia is “a disorder that causes reading difficulty.”

– My friend replied, “dyslexia is letters or numbers being backwards when you see them.”

– My adult vision therapy patient, who has been diagnosed as dyslexic since childhood, defined dyslexia as “a learning disability where the brain has trouble sequencing information and with decoding sounds.”

– I asked a psychologist and their reply was that dyslexia is “a learning difficulty effecting reading, writing and learning.”

– I contacted the Australian Dyslexia Association and they state: “a student that receives the same classroom instruction as other students, but continues to struggle with some or all of the many facets of reading and spelling may have dyslexia.”

– The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders affirms that Dyslexia is “a pattern of learning difficulties characterized by problems with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor decoding, and poor spelling abilities.”

Whilst these definitions all differ, they do have one area of commonality: dyslexia makes reading and learning difficult for the individual.

As Behavioural Optometrists, we are not qualified to diagnose or treat dyslexia. However, we are qualified to treat the learning-related visual problems experienced by many people with dyslexia, often making learning easier for them. We are also qualified to treat the visual dysfunctions that could be causing some dyslexic symptoms. Yes, you read that right – vision problems can cause similar problems to some issues experienced by people with learning problems or dyslexia!

Vision and learning difficulties go hand in hand more often than people realise. Poor binocular skills can lead to trouble focusing, double vision and make the words appear to move on the page. Poor visual discrimination skills (ability to attend to just noticeable differences) make it difficult to tell the difference between the letter ‘d’ and ‘b’ and make self-correction difficult. Poor visualisation and visual-memory skills can make it hard to understand and follow instructions correctly. Poor visual-spatial awareness can result in messy handwriting that floats above and below the lines provided. Visual-perceptual problems make it challenging for the brain to correctly interpret what the eyes are seeing and understand the meaning behind the words.

All of these symptoms are frequently described as being present in a diagnosis of learning difficulty or dyslexia.

So what are the key points?

• Dyslexia is classified differently and often, but is associated with reduced learning efficiency.
• Poor vision skills will not cause dyslexia, but learning-related vision problems can lead to some problems similar to those of people with dyslexia, and interfere with a child’s ability to benefit from tutoring or other therapies.
• Behavioural Optometrists and Vision Therapists can treat the visual problems that co-occur with learning difficulties and dyslexia.

For more information, including scholarly articles on vision and learning problems and dyslexia, please visit our Research & Evidence page or contact us if you have any questions about the connection between vision and learning difficulties.