Views on Vision By Dr. Charles A. Boulet ~ Dyslexia? Really? The role of eye movement in reading.

On a blank piece of paper place an X and O spaced 5 to 6 inches apart, keeping the letters about a half inch tall.

Try this with a small group of people: From about 40 cm, stare at the 'X' on the left, now switch to the 'O' on the right. Jump back and forth between the two. Have a partner count off 10 seconds - how many jumps can you make in 10 seconds? Watch your partner's eyes as he does the same. Count the number of jumps your partner can make. Repeat the exercise, but rather than counting how many jumps made, pay attention to where the eyes are looking - do they jump right to the targets, or is there some 'correction' required to finally fixate on the target?
Things to think about: Are you able to make the same number of 'jumps' as your partner? Is your partner able to land squarely on the targets, or do they need to make small adjustments to find the target? Is there any head movement or jaw movement? Consider using a video camera and zooming in on the eyes as they do this. Compare how you do to how your partners do.
Try this with children. Watch for accuracy in targeting, but also jaw movement or head movement. A child who reflexively moves the head or jaw to direct the eyes (as opposed to just moving the eyes) is likely to have trouble with fine motor skills needed for reading. If they do move the head or jaw to direct the eyes, stop the test and ask them to simply move their eyes to do the task - typically this is much more difficult.
This activity is a very rough assessment of jump eye movements (technically called 'saccades' pronounced 'sack-adds' or 'sack-aids'). Accurate and quick saccades are one of the cornerstone skills required for effortless reading. Slow or poorly coordinated saccades result in labored reading and can cause letters and words to be jumbled in the mind, or appearing out of proper sequence. Reading 'C - A - T' for example could appear as 'T - A - C' if the 'T' is seen first because of inaccuracies in targetting.
Clinical experience makes it trivial for developmental optometrists to spot trouble with eye movements, but it is often hard to see for teachers and parents. In a comprehensive assessment of visual function, saccades are necessarily one of the elements measured. An advanced measuring device called the 'Visagraph' (available at our clinic) makes very detailed measurements of some of the more important eye movement and coordination skills, namely saccades and fixation (the ability to simply stare at something with no involuntary eye movements.)
Trouble with jump eye movements is a common reason why children who can see well still have trouble with reading and mixing words up. Often enough, this is taken as 'dyslexia' or some other reading or learning problem. Thankfully, this is an issue that is fairly easy to remediate with the appropriate training. For more information, or to have you or your children assessed for potential eye movement trouble, feel free to call our clinic to set an appointment. This is especially important for anyone who struggles with reading and learning, and for children in early elementary.


Dr. Boulet is a former teacher and now operates Diamond Valley Vision Care in Black Diamond where he continues to work with children with learning difficulties. Call 403-933-5552.
www.dvvc.ca and www.LearningManagement.ca