Visual functions in a Swedish population of dyslexic and normally reading children

Eighty-six 9-year old dyslexic children were carefully matched to controls with regard to age, sex, class in school, and intelligence and thorough visual functions tests and eye examinations were performed. As a group the dyslexic pupils exhibited a lower distance as well as near visual acuity both with monocular and binocular viewing. Furthermore, the dyslexic pupils had a lower contrast sensitivity at the lower and higher spatial frequencies. These differences were all statistically significant. However, no statistically significant differences between the two groups could be observed regarding refractive errors or contrast sensitivity in the middle spatial frequency range. Although some eyes were amblyopic, any severe eye anomalies or diseases were not found in any of the investigated children.