Visual skills of poor readers in high school

Prior findings suggest that poor readers tend to have poor visual skills, but few reports give full frequency distributions of skill variables, and little data are available for adolescents.

Visual skills and visual acuity were measured in 461 students (average age 15.4 years) in 4 California high schools within the same school district. Participating students had been identified by their schools as poor readers. Standard optometric tests and published criteria for "adequate" or "weak" visual skills were used.

In this sample, 80% of the students were found to be inadequate or weak in 1 or more of the following visual skills: binocular fusion ranges at near, accommodative facility, and convergence near point. More students were deficient in binocular fusion range than in either accommodative function or near point of convergence. In contrast, only 17% had deficient visual acuity--20/40 or worse in 1 eye--the standard model of deficiency for school vision screenings.

The results support and extend previous studies showing that large numbers of poor readers in high school may be at high risk for visual skills dysfunction.