Oculomotor rehabilitation in children with dyslexia

Background: Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder. Visual and oculomotor deficits in dyslexic children have been reported. The purpose of this study was to measure oculomotor parameters and analyze the effect of oculomotor rehabilitation strategies on dyslexia. Methods: Binocular eye movements were recorded by oculomotor subtype of videonystagmography (VNG) testing on 30 children with dyslexia and 20 typical reader children (aged 8-12) in both genders. Dyslexic children were diagnosed with DSM-V scale by experts in reading disorder centers. We studied those children with developmental dyslexia, who had deficits in eye movements recording. Dyslexic children were divided into 2 groups of case and control. Oculomotor rehabilitation (including fixation, saccade, and tracking training) was performed in case group for 1 hour, twice weekly for 8 weeks. Before the intervention, results of oculomotor tests were compared between 3 groups (healthy, case, and control). Then, to analyze the effect of the intervention, results of oculomotor tests were compared between case and control groups in pre- and post- intervention stage. Data were analyzed by independent and paired samples t tests, ANOVA, and repeated measures tests in SPSS v. 21. Results: There were significant differences in oculomotor characteristics of dyslexic children in comparison with those reported in typical children. Oculomotor rehabilitation intervention had a positive effect on improvement of oculomotor responses and eye movements in dyslexic children. Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between dyslexic children and non-dyslexic children in oculomotor skills after the training. Conclusion: Our results showed the positive effects of oculomotor rehabilitation on eye movements. Primary oculomotor assessment in dyslexic children and early use of oculomotor rehabilitation combined with other treatments are highly recommended.