The Visual Skills Children Need to Succeed in School

Being able to focus on an eye-test chart isn’t enough. It’s also important to be able to focus at various distances and change focus easily from one distance to another. Apart from being able to focus, eyes need to be able to track from one thing to the next. For example, when reading, the eyes must be able to scan from one word to the next without losing their place. At the same time, both eyes need to be able to work together as a team.

Over and above these basic visual skills, people need the ability to process spatial information, notice small differences between one thing and another, be able to coordinate what is done in relation to what is seen (eye-hand coordination), and be able to associate what is seen with what is heard. 

Any issues with these visual skills will naturally result in problems with schoolwork. Up to 25 percent of children have visual difficulties of one kind or another, so having a thorough eye examination that includes testing of visual skills is a sensible step to take when children struggle at school.

Not all Optometrists Test Visual Skills

Regular Optometrists and eye surgeons (Ophthalmologists) are trained to test how well one can see, but it takes further training to be able to comprehensively test all the visual skills needed to succeed at school. 

That’s why many parents and educators eliminate issues with vision as a reason for children having difficulty with schoolwork too soon. After all, ordinary eye tests may show that a child has 20/20 vision, but without evaluation of the additional visual skills that will allow children to use their eyesight in learning, parents and teachers can mistake visual processing disorders for learning problems. As a result, the real issue is not addressed, and a child may be unable to fulfil his or her true potential.

Steps to Take When Children Struggle to Learn

Gary Rodney acknowledges that although full evaluation of vision and related visual skills can identify issues that are holding children back, other factors may contribute to difficulties with learning. 

If a child is struggling at school, testing of visual and auditory skills are a good first step. Gary’s practice, Eyes in Design, located in Mosman, will also be able to refer parents to the relevant health practitioners if dyslexia or other learning problems are suspected but have not been diagnosed. Even when a formal diagnosis has occurred, addressing any visual skills difficulties will help children to deal better with the challenges they face. 

“Vision therapy is not a panacea,” says Gary. “However sometimes, it’s all that’s needed to get kids on track. After all it has been shown that 80% of how we learn comes through the visual pathway. In other cases vision may not be the cause of the problem, or it may only be a contributing factor. Either way, Eyes in Design’s vision therapists are ready to assist parents in finding the practitioners they need to help children with the learning challenges they face.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, 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.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Rodney says the quality of the information provided by senses like the eyes is vital to the creation of an understandable overall picture of what is seen and experienced. It can help the person viewing it to perceive it, react to it, and understand it in a way that the information it supplies enables them to function and fit into their surroundings. 

However, this data can be easily compromised if the information sent to the brain for processing, is distorted in any way, or the processing systems are not functioning correctly. 

A Ray of Hope for Myopics

Rodney said the positive results of a study which showed that perceptual learning used in neural processing could make up for at least some of the problems caused by optical defects like myopia, and is a welcome addition to the toolbox of treatments currently being used to manage this fast-spreading refraction error. These include specially-designed single, and multi-focal contact lenses, as well as the Orthokeratology overnight treatment which uses gas permeable contacts.

When the References are Faulty

He said vision processing in the visual cortex uses memories and information accumulated from reactions to various stimuli like light, colour, construction and location as reference, and this is where perceptual learning has stepped in. Where these references have been distorted by poor vision or a glitch in the way the brain makes use of them, studies are suggesting that perceptual learning can change how people see using vision task performance training. 

However, most studies like the myopia one are still focusing only on specific aspects of the problem. In this case the study reported a significant amount of improvement in both contrast sensitivity and visual acuity in adults with myopia who had perceptual learning. 

Rodney, while welcoming these results, like many other eye doctors and researchers, is hoping that future studies will take a wider approach to the problem, and bring about even more positive results with regard to improving myopic vision and reducing its impact on their perception of the world around them. 

How Myopia Impacts on Vision

“Distortion of data and how it’s processed is one of the worst consequences of myopia for the billions who have this progressive refractory error. It’s the difference between good perceptual vision (or insight) and blurred plain sight. The compromised data collected any more than a few feet away won’t only be visibly blurred, but will not be pure and accurate enough for the brain to be able to create a clear picture of it ,” Rodney says. 

“And myopia also impacts on how the data is processed into signals that are sent to the brain for further processing into a final thought image. This happens because myopia causes the light rays which carry the initial data to land short of the retina instead of on it, so impacting on how this receptor and processor of the data functions.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia prevention and management, perceptual vision and vision therapy and its importance, or to book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, 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.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

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.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.