Improvement of reading performance through vision therapy

Some evidence suggest that poor reading is partially related to basic visual function deficiencies، including: distance visual acuity (DVA)، near visual acuity (NVA)، accommodative facility (AF) and saccadic eye movements (SEM). There are few controversial studies investigating the efficacy of vision therapy on reading abilities (i. e. reading accuracy، type and frequency of reading errors and reading comprehension). The aim of this study was to explore any possible effect of basic visual function therapeutic interventions on reading and phonological abilities in monolingual Persian speaking students. This quasi-experimental study assessed the basic visual functions of 10 poor readers from primary schools in Tehran (mean age=10. 2 years، female=3، male=7) and a sex-age-matched control group (mean age= 10. 5) using the Snellen chart، ±2. 00 D lenses and a fixation-refixation technique. Each participant was enrolled in the study following basic assessments of his/her general cognitive functions، reading skills and basic visual functions. The Assessment of the Persian Reading Abilities (APRA)، Spoonerisms and Raven’s Progressive Matrices were also used in both groups. Poor readers received 5 weeks interventions for AF، SEM، only. Both groups were retested in 5 weeks and then one month later. At baseline، poor readers performed significantly worse than controls in reading accuracy (p<0. 01)، reading comprehension (p<0. 01)، SEM (p<0. 01) and AF (both near & distance p<0. 01) with no significant differences on DVA، NVA. After vision therapy، the poor reader group showed a remarkable improvement in reading accuracy (p<0. 01) and reading comprehension (p<0. 01) associated with the enhancement of both AF (both near and distant، p<0. 01) and SEM (p<0. 01). Visual therapy appears to improve basic visual functions، reading skills and phonological abilities. The latter improvement may be due to the saccadic intervention that may improve magnocellular function and in turn enhancement of the higher cognitive performance such as attention.