Vision is SO Important!
When I was in graduate school, I was required to take what I initially thought was the dumbest class - The Psychology of Reading. It ended up being fascinating! We don’t really think about the mechanics beyond putting letters and sounds together and how our brains are processing the information. I am also personally fascinated with the visual aspect for personal reasons but I’ll save that for another post.
One of the first things educators do (or should do) when considering additional interventions for students is to screen their vision. In the school setting, we screen near and distance; left eye, right eye, and both eyes together. Having worked in the field a LONG time, I know there are people who just do the screening to check a box. BUT, these early screeners can tell us so much about a student. There were times people would do the screening and the student would pass the near screening but fail the distance. “Hey, Tricia. Can we go ahead and test them?” Yes, because we are doing this to make sure they can see what we are putting in front of them; BUT we need to have a conversation with the parent that they may be struggling to see the board and they may want to follow up.
“Hey, Tricia. This student passed the near screening with both eyes together but failed the near screening in Left or Right eye. Can we go ahead and test them?” Yes, but make sure they keep both eyes open and tell the parent/guardian so they can follow up.
There are sometimes false negatives meaning the student didn’t pass the school screening and when they see the optometrist or ophthalmologist, everything is fine. We don’t know why they didn’t pass ours but it is better to err on the side of caution. However, some vision screening failures can be early indicators of myopia, amblyopia, hyperopia, etc. Why does this matter? I have seen schools jump straight to providing a reading intervention without addressing vision and that student will not retain what they cannot see and process; it is a waste of their time, our time and resources.
Beyond vision screening, our eyes play such a pivotal role in the learning experience. The terms Eye Teaming, Eye Focusing, and Eye Tracking play important roles in our ability to read and write (as well as do math). This is one of my favorite sites to show what our students may be experiencing if they are having difficulty with any of these skills. Difficulty in these areas generally require vision therapy and families would be encouraged to address this PRIOR to attempting more restrictive interventions (e.g., special education services).
So what can parents and teachers be mindful of? From the American Optometric Association and All About Vision a summary of things to monitor include:
close one eye during activities like reading or watching TV
avoid activities that require near vision (reading, homework, computer use) or distance vision (sports, other recreational activities)
complain of tired their eyes or headaches
rubbing their eyes a lot
sensitivity to light
eyes tear up for no apparent reason
hold books unusually close to their face
lose their place as they read
use their finger to guide their eyes along the page
sit very close to TVs or computer screens
squint or tilt their head to see better
I have a lot more to share and say about vision but we’ll save it for another post.
Please let me know if you have questions I can address in these blog posts.
