Reading shouldn’t be a battle. Writing shouldn’t cause tears. Yet for many children, these everyday tasks become sources of frustration and struggle. While parents often assume academic difficulties stem from learning disabilities or lack of effort, the real culprit could be hiding in plain sight: vision problems that go beyond what a standard eye exam can detect.
5 signs your child could benefit from vision therapy include:
- Frequent headaches or eye strain
- Poor reading comprehension despite good eyesight
- Eye turns, double vision, or blurry vision
- Difficulty with hand-eye coordination
- Avoiding reading or close work
It’s important to note that children often do not recognize they have vision issues and may view their symptoms as “normal,” simply because they’ve never experienced anything different.
Vision therapy addresses visual skills that impact learning, sports, and daily activities. Unlike traditional eye care that focuses on visual acuity (how clearly you see), vision therapy works on how well the eyes work together, track moving objects, and process visual information. Think of it as teaching your brain how to use your eyes better.
Frequent Headaches or Eye Strain
When your child complains of headaches after homework or squints frequently while reading, their visual system might be working overtime. These symptoms often appear during or after activities that require sustained focus, such as reading, writing, or screen time.
Eye strain headaches typically develop when the eye muscles become fatigued from trying to maintain proper focus and alignment. For instance, children with convergence insufficiency struggle to keep their eyes properly aligned when looking at close objects. This forces their eye muscles to work harder, leading to fatigue and discomfort.
When headaches consistently occur during visual tasks, they may signal an underlying vision problem that vision therapy can address.
Poor Reading Comprehension Despite Good Eyesight
Your child passed their school vision screening with flying colours, but they’re still struggling to read at their grade level. This disconnect between clear eyesight and reading difficulties often points to problems with visual processing skills.
Children with vision problems may experience:
- Skipping lines or words while reading
- Losing their place frequently
- Poor reading fluency despite knowing the words
- Difficulty tracking from the end of one line to the beginning of the next
- Complaints that words seem to move or blur on the page
These issues can stem from problems with eye tracking and binocular vision.
Strabismus or Double Vision
Strabismus occurs when the eyes don’t align properly. One eye might turn inward, outward, upward, or downward, while the other eye focuses straight ahead. This misalignment can be constant or intermittent, and it significantly impacts how the brain processes visual information.
When eyes don’t work together properly, the brain receives conflicting images from each eye. To avoid confusion, the brain often suppresses input from one eye, leading to reduced depth perception and peripheral vision. Over time, this can result in amblyopia (lazy eye) if left untreated.
Some children develop subtle eye turns that only appear during visual stress or fatigue. These intermittent issues can be easily missed during routine eye exams, but they can impact daily function and academic performance.
Difficulty with Hand-Eye Coordination
Vision and movement work together seamlessly in typical development. Children with vision problems often struggle with activities that require precise hand-eye coordination. This can impact everything from sports performance to handwriting.
Hand-eye coordination challenges might manifest as:
- Difficulty catching or hitting balls
- Poor performance in sports requiring tracking moving objects
- Messy or slow handwriting
- Trouble with puzzles or building blocks
- Difficulty cutting with scissors or using utensils
- Frequent spills or knocked-over items
These coordination issues could stem from problems with visual-motor integration—the ability to coordinate visual information with physical movement. When the visual system can’t accurately judge distances, track moving objects, or provide stable visual input, motor skills suffer accordingly.
Parents might notice that their child seems clumsy or uncoordinated compared to their peers. While some children naturally develop these skills later than others, persistent difficulties with coordination activities might indicate underlying vision problems that can be improved through targeted therapy.
Avoiding Reading or Close Work
Children naturally avoid activities that cause discomfort or frustration. If your child consistently resists homework, claims they “hate reading,” or becomes irritable during close work, vision problems might be the underlying cause.
Avoidance behaviours could include:
- Procrastinating on homework or reading assignments
- Complaining of boredom when doing activities they previously enjoyed
- Preferring to listen to stories rather than read independently
- Choosing activities that don’t require close focus
- Emotional outbursts during homework time
This avoidance pattern can create a negative cycle. As children avoid reading and close work, they fall further behind academically, which increases frustration and reinforces the avoidance behaviour. Meanwhile, the underlying vision problem remains unaddressed.
Getting Started with Vision Therapy
Recognizing these signs early can make a significant difference in your child’s academic success, self-esteem, and overall well-being. Vision therapy addresses the root cause of these visual challenges through targeted exercises and activities designed to improve visual skills.
A comprehensive vision therapy evaluation goes beyond standard eye exams to assess how well the eyes work together, track moving objects, focus at different distances, and process visual information. This evaluation can identify specific visual deficits that may be contributing to your child’s struggles.
If you’ve noticed any of these signs in your child, don’t wait for them to outgrow the problem. Vision issues rarely resolve on their own and often become more challenging to address as children get older. Early intervention through vision therapy can help your child develop the visual skills they need for academic success and lifelong learning.
Discuss Vision Therapy with Us Today
Taking action now can help your child reach their full potential and develop a positive relationship with learning that will benefit them throughout their educational journey. Call our experienced team at Ottawa Vision Therapy today to book an appointment. After a thorough examination, we can provide personalized advice tailored to your child’s needs.
