Growing up, I was the daydreamer. I loved listening to stories, and was an avid reader. However, I missed out on some important points every so often during reading and school lectures. It wasn't a problem in high school for me. During University, I had to review after the lecture to understand it the first time. And when I intend to read for 6 hours in the library, I fall asleep for half of it. I was always jealous of my roommate, who was a visual learner. She was able to start at 10pm and get things done before her midnight sleep.
I was never diagnosed as learning disabled, as English was my second language. I also had an amazing English teacher, who took pity on me, and proofreads for me before I even submit my work.
However, my symptoms were very similar to those who I knew in high school who were deemed learning disabled. In Optometry, I was found to have large exophoria, a hidden eye turn. It makes my eyes more tired easily. However, I didn't get treated then. It got worse after my concussion in 2013. I avoided reading books for a quite a few years.
I started taking courses with the intend to treat a child patients with crossed eye last year. I learned at that time I can benefit from it myself for both my hidden eye turn and concussion related vision problems. I started going for vision therapy treatment this year. It's made a great difference so far. I am more aware in my driving and typos, and able to fix them.
For today's young children, it's even more important for parents and educators to ignite the fire in one's lifelong pursuit of education. It's a great idea to keep them interested in reading, to embark the journey for learning . If a child doesn't like to read. It's worth to investigate if it's vision related.
Here are some clinical pearls from the Vision Help Blog by Dan L. Fortenbacher, O.D., FCOVD
- "When a child’s history or initial testing indicates a possible developmental lag or learning disorder, additional testing should be performed to rule out a learning-related vision disorder.
- Vision problems such as accommodative, binocular vision, eye movement, and visual information processing disorders can interfere with academic performance.
- Vision disorders that occur in childhood may manifest as problems well into adulthood, affecting an individual’s level of education, employment opportunities, and social interactions. "
Read more on his blog here.
It's about the time of the year for back to school. May We help the children to stay calm and read on.
Book their eye exams before the school starts to ensure they have the proper visual skills for continuous reading comfort.
Dr. Yan Ling Liang
Markham Optometrist
www.wardenoptometry.ca
Contact Warden Optometry to book your appointment today.