Long-term objective: to examine the role of early visual system input in reading. Little rigorous work has been done to determine whether reading would improve if visual skills (such as convergence) improve. The project relates directly to the National Eye Institute's mission to advance our knowledge of how the visual system functions in health and disease, for although visual skills problems may affect 25% or more of school-aged children, little is known about how problems like convergence insufficiency affect their reading.
Specific aims are to: 1. Determine the amount of variance in reading scores in grades 3, 6, and 9 that can be accounted for by vision-related variables previously implicated as potential barriers to efficient reading. 2. Measure the effect of targeted convergence, accommodative, and tracking training on reading in grades 3, 6, and 9. 3. Investigate long-term effects of targeted convergence, accommodative and tracking training on reading up to 2 years following completion of training. Projects will be carried out in schools, with parental permission, to ensure large N and compliance with procedures. Methodology includes (1) vision and visual skills assessment, using standard optometric tests and comparing the outcome to reading fluency and scores on standardized tests, (2) computerized visual skills training in a randomized, matched-sample design that includes a no-treatment control and a group that will receive skills training unrelated to visual skills, and (3) assessment of visual skills and reading outcome measures five times following treatment, at 2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, and 2 years. The project relates to the important public health concern of whether problems such as convergence insufficiency can affect reading or not. If so, public policies regarding vision screening by schools may need to be changed. Moreover, if visual skills training proves to be effective in improving reading scores, then new, efficient and economically powerful classroom techniques may emerge.
