Dyslexia and Vision Therapy

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Dyslexia and Vision Therapy, vision therapy tracking, remedial definition

Dyslexia and vision therapy have been linked for many years, even though in some circles the link is hotly debated amongst professionals.

The definition of dyslexia is very hard to find, because the actual diagnosis seems to depend on a number of criterion, and varies from practitioner to practitioner. Dyslexia may be the most over diagnosed of learning disabilities for this reason, because there is not a stable, universally agreed remedial definition.

As an Optometrist working in the area of children and learning disabilities for over 20 years, I examine the link between dyslexia and vision therapy on a daily basis. Yet in my field I do not face the kind of diagnosing dilemmas that those diagnosing dyslexia face, because vision therapy, tracking, focus and eye coordination disorders, sequencing and other remedial definitions that I face are easy to identify, and within the field are mostly agreed upon.

Vision therapy can provide help for dyslexia in many areas. For example, vision therapy can improve eye tracking, which enables the dyslexia sufferer to stabilize their vision and helps them maintain their place in the book as they read.

Despite the claims of ophthalmology that dyslexia and vision therapy have no relationship, thousands of children with learning disabilities worldwide have found that vision therapy tracking exercises have helped in their remedial reading. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If we send a child to tennis coaching and train the muscles, eyes, arms and legs, to be more accurate, then the child’s tennis ability will most often improve. In the same way, vision therapy tracking exercises will sharpen the visual skills of the child, thus improving their flow when reading, stabilizing their space world and helping them to overcome at least some of the definition of dyslexia. Dyslexia and vision therapy do have some alignment, at least in the area of vision therapy tracking.

And other areas of vision therapy are similar to tracking exercises except that they help other aspects of remedial reading. Focus and eye coordination exercises help the child with learning disabilities control their focus on the book, visualization therapy helps their recall and spelling, reversal therapy can stop them writing letters in reverse, and all of these add to vision therapy tracking to show that there is, indeed a close relationship between dyslexia and vision therapy.

So, given that there is no consistent, universally agreed upon dyslexia definition or remedial definition, concerned parents deserve the right to at least examine the relationship between dyslexia and vision therapy. Anything less than this is really a failure on the part of professionals to discuss every possible relationship that could help the concerned and often confused parents of children with learning disabilities. Whether they pursue simple vision therapy tracking exercises, or more complex therapy programs such as Learning @ Lightspeed, we need to share with the parents of children with learning disabilities worldwide the fact that there is a positive, and very often fruitful relationship between dyslexia and vision therapy.