Four year research project on how vision affects literacy skills has been launched recently. Department of Health has funded a study which aim is to determine whether poor vision can affect literacy skills of school children.
The researchers suggest that poor vision can have influence on academic performance as well as general health and social skills of children, and emphasize the importance of thorough and regular sight checks.
Dr Bruce from Bradford Teaching Hospitals, invlolved in the research, said: ‘Amblyopia commonly co-exists with strabismus and/or anisometropia which results in the need for glasses. Amblyopia is the most frequently treated disorder encountered in children’s eye clinics affecting around 1-4 per cent of all children. Early detection and treatment is recommended but there is still a debate around its impact on key life outcomes like education, employment and other social outcomes.
‘Reading is an essential daily living skill, yet there have been few studies examining the impact of amblyopia on reading ability, despite reading being the key skill taught to children when they start school. It is therefore vital to know if the essential recognition skills required for reading are affected by the presence of amblyopia.’
The project with £280,000 budget will check for correlation between eye performance and literacy levels of school children, and hopefully contribute towards awareness about importance of eye checks, especially in early childhood.
Source: Optician Magazine
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