Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia and Vision
Posted by: admin on: April 22, 2011
Learning disabilities constitute a diverse group of disorders in which children who generally possess at least average intelligence have problems processing information or generating output.
- The etiologies of learning disabilities are multifactorial and reflect genetic influences and dysfunction of brain systems.
- Reading disability or dyslexia is the most common learning disability.
- It is a receptive language-based learning disability that is characterized by difficulties with decoding, fluent word recognition, rapid automatic naming, and/or reading-comprehension skills.
- These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonologic component of language that makes it difficult to use the alphabetic code to decode the written word.
- Early recognition and referral to qualified professionals for evidence-based evaluations and treatments are necessary to achieve the best possible outcome.
- Since dyslexia is a language-based disorder, treatment should be directed at this etiology.
- Vision problems can interfere with the process of reading, but children with dyslexia or related learning disabilities have the same visual function and ocular health as children without such conditions.
- Scientific evidence does not support the claims that visual training, muscle exercises, ocular pursuit-and-tracking exercises, behavioral/perceptual vision therapy, “training” glasses, prisms, and colored lenses and filters are effective direct or indirect treatments for learning disabilities.
- There is no valid evidence that children who participate in vision therapy are more responsive to educational instruction than children who do not participate.
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/pediatrics;127/3/e818?rss=1
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