“This study provides evidence that visual function deficits are prevalent in children with developmental dyslexia” says Raghuram. Ocular motor tracking was evaluated two ways – with a printed test and infrared eye tracking – and all parametric analyses for the vision measures were adjusted for age and sex.Ĭhildren with DD exhibited more deficits in peripheral visual function – specifically vergence, accommodation, and/or ocular motor tracking – than the non-randomized group of TD children: 23 children (79 percent) in the DD group had deficits in one or more domain of visual function, compared with 11 children (33 percent) in the TD group (p<0.001). Participants spent two hours undergoing psychoeducational testing, comprehensive eye examinations, and visual function measures – assessing vergence, accommodation, and ocular motor tracking. “Establishing that such differences exist would be essential as a basis for any further studies to evaluate whether treating vision makes sense.” “We set out to initially determine whether visual function deficits are in fact more prevalent in children with developmental dyslexia”, says Aparna Raghuram, who led the study.
