Kerry Hempenstall: Is difficulty with reading a visual problem?

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Kerry Hempenstall: Is difficulty with reading a visual problem?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

The amazingly knowledgeable Kerry Hempenstall writes about eyesight issues and reading:

http://nifdi.org/news/hempenstall-blog/ ... al-problem
KEEPING AN EYE ON READING: Is difficulty with reading a visual problem?

Kerry Hempenstall, RMIT University First published Nov 15, 2013

It sounds like a no brainer. You need vision to read. If reading isn’t happening, surely it could be a vision problem? Just as you need a hand to write. If you can’t write, is it a hand problem? Well, neither necessarily follows. Perhaps you’ve simply never been taught to write, or you have some disability, such as a significant intellectual disability. So, a hand is a necessary condition for handwriting, but it is not a sufficient condition. Similarly, vision may be a necessary condition for reading, but it is not a sufficient condition. If there is a problem with reading, it sounds at least plausible that vision may be the source of the problem. Indeed, extreme levels of visual disability can preclude conventional reading. But, what about those struggling with reading whose visual problems are adequately corrected with optometric lenses and those whose vision is considered within the normal range by optometric assessment? Could there be some other vision problem not assessed or detected by conventional optometry?
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Kerry Hempenstall: Is difficulty with reading a visual problem?

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Kerry noted further:
This is not to dismiss vision as important in reading, however, as Slavin notes:

“We are giving comprehensive vision tests to second- and third-graders in some of the most impoverished schools in the city. We are finding high rates of visual impairment, which can be corrected by eyeglasses. Yet only 1 to 3 percent of the children have glasses in school. … In our project, we are testing kids, and, for those who need them, we are providing two pairs of glasses, one for home and one for school. Teachers are given craft boxes to hold the glasses and facilitate distributing them each day. If glasses are broken, they are replaced. Eyeglasses are in these days, and the kids are very proud of their glasses. … Not every struggling reader is struggling due to poor eyesight, but imagine if 20 or 10 or even 5 percent of children in high-poverty schools are struggling in reading or other subjects due to vision problems that are easily remediated with ordinary eyeglasses.”

Reading and Vision (2015) by Robert Slavin, Director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-e- ... 83132.html
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