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Reading Problems in
Children
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Ophthalmology, and
American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology issued a joint policy
statement concerning pediatric learning disabilities, dyslexia, and
vision. The policy offered the following statement withregard to reading
problems in children. Eye defects, subtle or severe, do not cause the patient to
experience reversal of letters when reading, words, or numbers. No scientific
evidence supports claims that the academic abilities of children with learning
disabilities can be improved with treatments that are based on visual
training, including muscle exercises, ocular pursuit, tracking exercise, or
training glasses (with or without bifocals or prisms), neurological
organizational training (laterality training, crawling, balance board,
perceptual training), or colored lenses, such as is found in tinted reading
glasses. These more controversial methods of treatment may give parents and
teachers a false sense of security that a child’s reading difficulties are being
addressed, which may delay proper instruction or remediation.
The expense of these methods is unwarranted, and they cannot be substituted
for appropriate educational measures. Claims of improved reading and learning
after visual training, neurologic organization training, or use of colored
lenses are almost always based on poorly controlled studies that typically rely
on anecdotal information. These methods are without scientific validation. Their
reported benefits can be explained by the traditional educational remedial
techniques with which they are usually combined.
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