
For many adults, reading and writing come so naturally that they seem almost effortless. However, reading and writing are actually complicated skills that take significant effort to learn. For example, reading involves recognizing letters, associating letter combinations with their corresponding sounds, blending sounds together, identifying words, and connecting words to their meanings. Vision problems can interfere with several portions of this process, resulting in significant reading or writing deficits that may be diagnosed as learning disabilities.
Symptoms of Reading and Writing Difficulty
There are many reasons that kids might experience difficulty with reading or writing, but it is important to rule out vision impairment. Common symptoms of vision-related reading and writing problems include:
Common Vision Problems Affecting Reading and Writing
Several vision disorders can negatively impact reading and writing, including the following:
Vision Therapy for Reading and Writing Problems
Vision therapy offers an opportunity to teach the eyes to work more typically. Performed in an eye doctor’s office, vision therapy involves performing special tasks to correct vision disorders. This might include corrective lenses, prism lenses, computer tasks, focusing exercises, or eye movement tasks.
Over time, completing vision therapy exercises retrains the eyes and brain to work together more effectively. Vision therapy can correct many of the problems that lead to reading and writing difficulty, resulting in improved academic performance and better visual attention.