"Eight-year-old Brooke passed the 20/20 eye chart test with flying colors—yet she saw letters move around on the page, words and letters disappear, and the print go in and out of focus. When asked if she had ever told her parents or the teacher that this was happening, Brooke replied, "No, I thought books did that to everyone."
The community was invited to the St. Maries Christian School Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006, for a seminar presented by Desi Weber, Chris Hill and Paula Cumpton, vision therapists who work with Dr. Todd Wylie in Spokane. They explained that vision is more than 20/20 eyesight. Nearly 80 percent of what a child perceives, comprehends and remembers depends on the efficiency of the visual system.
Current research indicates that approximately one out of four children and seven out of 10 juvenile delinquents have vision problems, which interfere with their ability to achieve.
Many children are programmed for academic failure simply because their visual systems are not sufficiently developed to cope with the demand of reading and writing tasks at the kindergarten and first-grade levels. Ask your child how they see. If any vision problems are detected, maybe your child or student needs to see a specialist—an optometrist with the (ovd) after his/her name.
For more information, contact Martha George through the school Web site www.stmariesidahochristianschool.com.
Desi Weber shares a simple test one can do to see if a student is having trouble with vision.
