Abnormal Vision and Learning Difficulty

Abstract

SUMMARY 1. There definitely appears to be a relationship between visual abnormalities and difficulty in scholastic achievement where the learning of reading quantitatively and linguistically and perceptual span are the main factors. 2. Various eye difficulties show different degrees of influence on learning ability. Exophoria and deduction weakness show the greatest, while the need for glasses seems to show less influence. 3. Poorly-fitted glasses cause particularly serious scholastic retardation. 4. Monocular individuals have less trouble with learning to read. This indicates that the major role in ocuIar defects in causing reading disability lies in disturbance of binocular vision. 5. Learning scores in terms of mental age expectancy give a significant correlation with visual function scores, while scholastic achievement scores in terms of grade equivalents give practically no such correlation. The first type of score is a better measurement of the role of defective vision in learning retardation because the influence of intelligence is eliminated. 6. Learning retardation and abnormalities of vision are related in about the same way throughout the various school grades, except for a slightly greater correlation in the first two grades. This indicates the need of an early diagnosis and the advisability of prompt correction of existing eye impairment, particularly abnormal binocular vision. 7. There is no evidence, contrary to the common view, that school work increases the number or severity of the eye defects during the elementary grades.