Advice for Parents and Teachers

Advice for Parents and Teachers

Often when children start to have difficulties with schoolwork, the school recommends amongst other things getting their eyes tested.

When parents and teachers think of vision and children they frequently think of eyesight alone, that is whether someone can see clearly in the distance or not.

However often the visual problems these children have are often more subtle than not being able to see in the distance. Such children may have visual difficulties even though their distance vision is good.

These subtle visual problems may not be picked up unless the child is seen by an optometrist with a special interest in children’s vision.

These children can be divided into two categories, those that have “problems learning to read” and those who “have problems reading to learn”.

The children who have “problems learning to read” often present having difficulties with schoolwork when they start school so in years 1 and 2. They have difficulties from the very start and parents may have noticed difficulties during nursery or pre-school.

The children who have “problems reading to learn” often do well in years 1 and 2 then suddenly beyond this, when they reach year 3 or beyond their school performance declines and they no longer perform as well.

Both sets of children potentially have visual problems which may have gone undetected.

So what can you do as a parent or a teacher to help?

There is a simple checklist of symptoms and behaviours that can be used to spot the early signs of visual problems.

You can go through this checklist with your child and see if they report any of these symptoms.

Often young children will experience these symptoms when doing schoolwork though will think that what they experience is normal as they do not know any different.

Mark Menezes, Vision Training Clinic, 3 Listley St, Bridgnorth WV16 4AW (ph 01746763330)www.visiontraining.org.ukEmail: [email protected]

http://www.visiontraining.org.uk


mailto:[email protected]


Does your child show any of these signs or symptoms?

Sometimes loses place when reading Skips lines, re-reads the same line, misses out words when reading Guesses at words when reading Has to use a finger or marker to keep their place when reading Moves head from side to side when reading Tires easily with reading Short attention span + reduced concentration with reading or writing Reports occasional blurry or double vision (sees two of things) Finds copying from the board difficult Sometimes rubs eyes with reading or writing Squints or peers to see the board Headaches (usually around the eyes and temples) after close work Leans over work when writing, holds book close to when reading Has to read something a number of times to take in or understand

what they are reading Notices print moving or shimmering on the page when reading Not able to read books expected for age

In addition, the following symptoms may indicate a visual problem

A tendency to easily bump into things or knock things over. This may be termed dyspraxia though there is often an underlying visual problem

Difficulties hitting or catching a ball or placing passes with sport A reluctance to play with puzzles or jigsaws Letters and words not evenly spaced when writing Tends to spell phonetically or spelling good in tests, not as good in

written work Difficulties with reproducing figures or doing geometry Travel sickness

If you can tick more than two boxes on this list you would benefit from professional helpMark Menezes, Vision Training Clinic, 3 Listley St, Bridgnorth WV16 4AW (ph 01746763330)www.visiontraining.org.ukEmail: [email protected]





So why do children have such problems? The underlying causes usually involve difficulties with the following skills:

Tracking: accurate and precise control of eye movements is required when reading so that we can move our eyes across a page of text. If we are not able to move our eyes appropriately we will be more likely to lose our place with reading and misread words.

Focussing: reduced focussing skills make it challenging for children to maintain attention when doing close work and may result in writing close to or far away becoming blurry. Children with focussing difficulties may also report that things take a while to come clear when looking from their work to the whiteboard and from the whiteboard to their work.

How text may appear to a child who has focussing difficulties

Convergence: it is very important that the eyes coordinate or ‘converge’ well when doing close work. Difficulties with convergence can lead to seeing double and a reduced attention span. Issues with maintaining






convergence or eye coordination are a common factor in children and adults who have reading difficulties.

How text might appear to a child with convergence or eye coordination difficulties






In order to read effectively, children have to track, focus and converge and many children with reading difficulties have problems sustaining all these skills at the same time for long periods. Often their work may start off well and then their performance tails off with time.

Peripheral awareness: efficient use of vision depends on good use of your side vision or peripheral vision coupled with using your central vision. This is the effective field of vision you are aware of at any given time and is a visual perceptual effect. The larger this effective field of vision is, the easier it is for us to process visual information, to anticipate the next words in a sentence when reading, to navigate our way through our environment, to stay organised and to play some sports to a high standard. Often people with reading difficulties have a reduced perceptual field of vision.

If you suspect that a child may have a visual problem you want to get your child seen by an optometrist who specialises in children’s eye care.

Like some dentists specialise in orthodontics, some optometrists likewise specialise in children’s eye care. One way of finding such an optometrist is to look for members of the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists who will have undergone extensive postgraduate training in the area of vision relating to children’s performance at school. You can find a practitioner at www.babo.co.uk

Even if you feel that a child does not have a visual problem, it is important that they have an eye examination regularly throughout their childhood. The NHS recommends annual checks up until the age of 16 and then every two years after that. No child is too young to be seen, even babies can be assessed for their vision.

Ideally you want a child to be seen before they start school in order to ensure that they are ”visually ready” and then to be checked again every following year. If a child is already at school and has not been checked it is important that you arrange an appointment for them to be seen as they may have subtle visual problems that are affecting their ability to learn.Mark Menezes, Vision Training Clinic, 3 Listley St, Bridgnorth WV16 4AW (ph 01746763330)www.visiontraining.org.ukEmail: [email protected]

http://www.babo.co.uk

http://www.babo.co.uk





If problems are found, glasses may be recommended. These may be for wearing all the time or just for schoolwork. Sometimes if the visual problem is caught early enough the use of glasses may be only temporary as the glasses are prescribed to help compensate for a focussing, convergence or peripheral awareness problem.

Visually based exercises may be recommended (also known as vision training or VT). This is the best solution as vision training can be used to improve visual skills, general coordination, balance, peripheral awareness, thinking and reasoning skills as well as the speed with which information is processed by the brain.

Tinted lenses can be of use for some children though do not solve the underlying difficulties.

In order to help such children the best a holistic approach is required using where appropriate glasses, tinted lenses, vision training and nutritional advice.

Some researchers think that the problems we notice with these children is due to the amount of close work they now do and recommend limiting their time on computers and electronic devices and encouraging more outdoor pursuits. Other researchers feel that our children start reading and writing too early at school and that reading and writing demands are better delayed until the age of 7. Others feel that more exercise and better diets are the key.

However what is certain though is that we are best ensuring good quality eye care for our children during their school years.







Mark Menezes has been working with people with learning difficulties for over twenty years both in the UK and abroad. He has been instrumental in the setting up of award winning learning difficulty clinics in private practice as well as the setting up of learning difficulty clinics at Universities in the UK.

Mark Menezes Vision Training Clinic3 Listley St, Bridgnorth WV16 4AWTel: 01746 763330www.visiontraining.org.uk





Documents

Advice for Parents and Teachers