Special Education

Study Finds No Connection Between Eye Problems and Dyslexia

By Christina A. Samuels — May 28, 2015 1 min read
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There appears to be no connection between vision or eye disorders and reading impairments, according to a study of about 5,800 children that will be published in the June issue of Pediatrics.

The sample of children was taken from a longitudinal study of families living in the Bristol, England area. The children were all 7 to 9 years old, and 3 percent tested as having severe reading impairments.

The researchers then tested the vision of those children. Four out of five had normal eyesight. A small minority of children displayed minor anomalies in depth perception and fusing ability, or the ability to use both eyes properly at the same time.

But there’s no evidence from this study that therapies to improve eyesight will do anything to help with dyslexia, the researchers concluded. “The best evidence is for intensive interventions involving instruction on phonics, word analysis, and reading fluency and comprehension,” the authors said.


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A version of this news article first appeared in the On Special Education blog.