Poor Eyesight Is Not The Cause Of Dyslexia

Statistics show that 70 to 80 percent of students with poor reading skills are likely dyslexic, a learning disability that's characterized by reading difficulties. However, health officials oftentimes mistake the health issue for poor eyesight. 

New findings published in the journal Pediatrics stress how this is not a symptom of the problem. 

For the study, researchers at the University of Bristol U.K. looked at the eye test results of 5,822 children between the ages of 7 to 9. They found that about 3 percent or 172 of the participants were diagnosed with severe dyslexia, while 8 percent or 479 had moderate dyslexia. Study results were then compared to the eye test result with no dyslexia.

Findings revealed that 84 percent of dyslexic children had perfect vision, while only 16 percent had eye problems when compared to 11 percent of those without dyslexia. In conclusion, researchers said they do not believe that dyslexia is caused by eyesight issues.

However, the findings can be disheartening when many health officials who diagnosed children as dyslexic often believe routine eye checkups will help solve related symptoms.

"Some practitioners feel that vision impairments may be associated with dyslexia and should be treated. However, our study results show that the majority of dyslexic children have entirely normal vision on the tests we used," Cathy Williams, study lead author and a pediatric ophthalmologist, said in a news release.

"So, families now might want to ask: what visual impairment is actually being treated, how it is measured and what is the evidence that treating it will help a child with dyslexia? This will help them decide whether any sight treatment offered is likely to help their child's dyslexia."

However, researchers noted that the study does not say what causes dyslexia. Yet numerous educational programs can help to address the issue, with previous studies even suggesting that video games could help to boost reading performance in some patients. 

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