Is your child falling behind with reading?

Reading is a complex task requiring good vision and some complex processing in the brain. Reading difficulties may be caused by a number of factors and it is often a process of elimination to determine the underlying cause and best management

Good vision

Good vision is essential for reading. If the words on the page are blurred or doubled, reading can become difficult or impossible. Therefore, the first step is usually to take your child for a full eye examination by an optometrist. They will advise if any glasses or other forms of treatment are required.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a condition caused by the way words are processed by the brain. If you think your child may have dyslexia, the first step is to speak to their teacher or their school’s special needs coordinator (SENCO) about your concerns. They may be able to arrange for an assessment and if the diagnosis is confirmed, they may be able to offer additional support.

Visual Stress

Visual Stress is a distinct condition to Dyslexia. Those with Visual Stress report that words appear to move, wobble or flicker when they read for any length of time, or that they perceive colours or other illusory phenomena in the background to the text. These symptoms can affect reading fluency and cause eye strain, headaches or even migraines. If looking at text is not comfortable, children will tend to avoid reading, which in turn can slow the development of reading skills.

The condition is thought to be caused by overactivity of cells in the part of the brain that process information from the eyes. For reasons that are not well understood, the symptoms of Visual Stress can often be reduced by changing the background colour of the text using an overlay or coloured lenses. The colour which minimises symptoms varies from one person to the next, hence a range of colours are required.