How Optometric Vision Therapy Supports Individuals with Dyslexia

It's common knowledge that dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder—and we agree. It is not a vision problem itself. However, visual skills are a fundamental part of the learning process.

At Pediatric Vision Development Center (PVDC), our developmental optometrists specialize in addressing the foundational visual skills that significantly impact a person’s ability to read and learn. We want to be clear about our role, which is fully supported by major national optometric organizations.

Optometric Vision Therapy techniques such as this pegboard activity can help a child's visual system become more efficient.

OVT: Clearing the Path, Not Curing Dyslexia

We must address the misconception that vision therapy was misrepresented as a "cure" for dyslexia in years past.

Let us be perfectly clear in our position: We do NOT suggest vision therapy cures dyslexia. We DO strongly believe that improving foundational visual skills removes a critical barrier to learning, allowing educational interventions, like structured literacy, to be more effective.

This position aligns with the official joint policy statement on Vision, Learning, and Dyslexia from the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Association (AOA):

• "Vision therapy does not directly treat learning disabilities or dyslexia.”

• "Vision therapy is a treatment to improve visual efficiency and visual processing, thereby allowing the person to be more responsive to educational instruction."

Optometric Vision Therapy (OVT) is about making the visual system efficient, not treating the language disorder.

The Role of Visual Skills in Reading

While a person with dyslexia may have 20/20 sight, the visual skills required for sustained, comfortable reading may be inefficient. 

Research consistently shows that various functional visual concerns are significantly more common in individuals with dyslexia. These aren't issues with standard visual acuity, but rather how the eyes work together. 

For instance, studies have found that nearly 80% of children with developmental dyslexia exhibit deficits in one or more areas of visual function (like eye teaming or focusing), compared to only about 33% of typically developing children. Specific anomalies are highly prevalent, including Ocular Motor Tracking disorders in approximately 62% of children with dyslexia and Accommodation (focusing) deficits in 55%.

Our Approach to Visual Treatment

Our comprehensive treatment at PVDC addresses visual function deficits across the three main areas highlighted by AOA/AAO policy:

• Visual Pathway Integrity: Ensuring the health of the eyes, clear sight (visual acuity), and an accurate prescription.

• Visual Efficiency: Focusing on the mechanics of how the eyes work, including precise focusing (Accommodation), both eyes working together (Binocular Vision/Eye Teaming), and coordinated eye movements.

• Visual Information Processing: How the brain interprets what the eyes see, involving spatial awareness, visual memory, and integrating vision with other senses.

Optometric Vision Therapy (OVT) doesn't treat the language disorder of dyslexia itself, but it strengthens the visual skills essential for reading, such as:

• Eye Teaming (Binocularity): Strengthening the ability of both eyes to work together smoothly. Poor teaming can cause words to blur, jump, or double, leading to eye strain and making sustained reading quickly fatiguing.

• Eye Tracking (Oculomotor Skills): Improving the ability to move the eyes accurately across text and efficiently from line to line. Weak tracking skills are often what cause a child to skip words, lose their place, or reread unnecessarily, severely reducing comprehension.

  
  

By improving these foundational visual skills, we make the physical act of reading easier, less fatiguing, and more efficient.

Optometric Intervention: Part of a Multidisciplinary Approach

OVT is not a standalone solution for those with dyslexia; it is most effective as part of a holistic and multidisciplinary treatment plan. OVT acts as a powerful tool used alongside crucial interventions like structured literacy and speech-language therapy.

Our goal is simple: to improve visual function and allow children and adults to perform to their full potential. As the AOA/AAO policy states, people at risk for learning-related vision problems should be evaluated by an optometrist as a necessary step in the multidisciplinary process.

If you or your child with dyslexia struggles with eye strain, fatigue, losing their place, or poor reading stamina, a comprehensive vision evaluation is the essential first step to ensure all visual barriers to learning have been addressed.

Referenced Research & Organizational Policy Statements

For more information about Vision, Learning, and Dyslexia, we encourage you to visit the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) website: https://www.covd.org/page/Dyslexia

Organizational Policy Statements:

• American Academy of Optometry and American Optometric Association. (1997). Vision, Learning and Dyslexia: A Joint Organizational Policy Statement.

• College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD). (2008). Vision Based Learning Problems: The Role of the Optometrist on the Multidisciplinary Team (White Paper 10).

• College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD). Vision and Dyslexia (White Paper 7).

Functional Vision & Ocular Motor Deficits:

• Rouse, M. W., Tjossem, C., & Rouse, L. (2018). Frequency of visual deficits in children with developmental dyslexia. Ophthalmology, 125(7), 1109–1116. (Cited for high prevalence of ocular motor and accommodation deficits in children with dyslexia.)

• Harvard Medical School / Boston Children's Hospital Research. (General attribution for studies on Binocular/Vergence Control Issues.)

Visual Processing & Magnocellular Deficits:

• Amitay, S., Ben-Yehudah, G., & Zohary, E. (2001). Impaired temporal contrast sensitivity in dyslexics is specific to retain-and-compare paradigms. Brain, 124(7), 1381–1395.

•  Slaghuis, W. L., & Ryan, A. B. (1999). Spatio-temporal contrast sensitivity, coherent motion, and visible persistence in developmental dyslexia. Vision Research, 39(3), 651–668.

• Bosse, M. L., Tainturier, M. J., & Valdois, S. (2007). Developmental dyslexia: The visual attention span deficit hypothesis. Cognition, 104(2), 198–230.

• Soltanlou, M., Ebrahimi, N., & Vameghi, R. (2014). Meta-analysis of visual-spatial deficits in dyslexia. International Journal of Behavior Science, 3(1), 13–20.

• Stein, J. (2021). Increasing visual timing by movement discrimination exercises improves reading fluency, attention span, and memory retention in dyslexics. Open Access Text Journal of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 5(2).