LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Dyslexia,or specific learning disability, learning difficulties or reading difficulties commonly cause children to progress poorly at school.

BACKGROUND:

My interest in learning difficulties and vision therapy commenced in 1979 when I researched and published a number of papers on dyslexia and reading difficulties.

Subsequently in the early 80s at the instigation of the Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists I reviewed the literature on dyslexia and learning difficulties -over 900 papers were researched- claims and counterclaims were reviewed. Few papers claiming success of therapy passed the most basic scrutiny of their scientific methods. Invariably a hypothesis was floated, not proven and then used as the foundation for uncontrolled or poorly controlled studies and the subsequent claimed success in the treatment of reading difficulties or dyslexias .

Theories involving an ocular mechanism in the causation or management of learning disabilities that were proved invalid and dismissed- resurfaced a little later with a thin veneer of disguise. These included papers by ophthalmologists, optometrists, psychologists and others. None bore true scientific scrutiny.

The position today has changed little.

The influence of visual disorders in the management of learning disability is discussed in detail in the linked page. The role of Vision Therapy and the use of Irlen Lenses for this condition is covered.