Views On Vision - Matt's Story

(Grande Page 6)

In the next two editions, I will tell you Matt's story. Matt is a lucky boy. His doctor told his mother that she should investigate the possibility that his vision might have something to do with reading and learning, and his poor performance in school in particular. Matt was in trouble and everyone knew it. He is only in Grade 3 and already he has been in 4 schools, is clinically depressed and has started a prescription for antidepressants. His trouble at school is that severe.
This is a true story. Reading disability is not a black and white thing. There are many reasons children have trouble reading and very often there is some degree of visual dysfunction getting in the way. You might say the car is not well-tuned. Sometimes the dysfunction is mild, in which case the overall impact to the child will be hardly noticed. In many cases, the impact is moderate and this can change A's to B's, and B's to C's. Moderate visual dysfunction can be a chronic source of mental 'interference' during the work day and can seriously impact focus and productivity. Severe visual dysfunction can be debilitating and change lives completely if undetected and treated.
Keep these points in mind as you read Matt's story.
Most significant visual dysfunction goes unnoticed. Severe problems are usually made obvious to some observant parent or teacher, but moderate dysfunction can linger like a hobgoblin and cause havoc for many years undetected. Children feel their vision is normal, regardless of how bad it is.
With regards to success in the classroom, vision and audition (hearing) are the key senses. Seems obvious. It should also seem obvious that if either of these are significantly dysfunctional (by 'delayed' development, trauma or disease), the child will be disadvantaged from the outset (See 'The Matthew Effect' at: www.LearningManagement.ca), and if left uncorrected, the impact of the dysfunction will be amplified over each year of life.
Pain interferes with our daily function in two important ways. First, it makes us pay attention to it; while our pain distracts us, we can't pay attention to the things we need to do, like work or study. Pain can easily account for the majority our our attention, leaving little for other things and other people. Second, pain drives us to become extremely irritable and of limited patience and empathy for others. Children find it difficult to understand pain and, like adults, will react to it.
When deprived of necessary and basic elements for success (call it survival) in the classroom (like vision and sight), a student will begin to question his own abilities and sense of identity - Why can't I do this (hear, see, write, draw, remember, etc.) while my classmates can? Negative thoughts and doubts can spiral and lead to more outbursts and despondency. Again, to the child, his bad vision is normal, so why can everyone else do the task so easily?
About one of every four students in elementary classrooms has some sort of visual dysfunction that puts them at a disadvantage with respect to their peers. Often enough in moderate and severe cases, this is taken as dyslexia and treated as such at great expense and with questionable outcomes. In the end, these children can still find dealing with text to be difficult and continue to perform at less than optimal levels because the root problem remains unresolved.
It is an important and kind thing to ensure all children are properly equipped to function in the classroom. My advice is that a detailed assessment of children's visual function be performed in the Spring of Kindergarten and again Grade 2. The Province does not require the schools to petition parents to ensure their children are fully assessed, but they should - this service is covered by health care, but be sure to ask your optometrist what checks they do for vision-related learning problems and if there are additional charges.
The schools have an important role to play in ensuring all children are checked for visual dysfunction at regular intervals throughout the school years. Parents should not be forced to bring their children in for examination, but they should be educated as to availability and reasons why this should be done yearly. Problems don't have to be as severe as Matt's to be real problems. If your child is struggling with school, you should consider the possibility that there is at least a moderate problem with visual function and that it is likely correctable.

To be continued....

Dr. Boulet is an optometrist and owner-operator of Diamond Valley Vision Care in Black Diamond (403-933-5552 or info@dvvc.ca.) He is also a former high school teacher and continues to work with children who have trouble learning.