Learning disorders, dyslexia, and vision.

BACKGROUND: Learning and reading disorders are common presentations in the primary care setting. Concern for the welfare of children with such disorders can lead parents and clinicians to engage with a wide range of diagnostic and treatment procedures, many of which are controversial or without clear scientific evidence of efficacy. One of these procedures implicates ocular vision and/or visual processing as a causal factor and advocates visual training as a treatment device.

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to provide general practitioners with a brief summary of the evidence for visual deficits in the learning disorders and the efficacy of visual therapies in their treatment.

DISCUSSION: Although ocular/visual processing deficits do exist in those with learning disorders--particularly reading, they also exist in typical children, and current consensus holds they are not causal factors. Current consensus also holds that visual therapies are not an evidence based treatment for reading or learning disorders.