Opto-dyslexia is a so-called visual dyslexia, the cause of which lies in a problem with the visual organ. It denotes a set of specific difficulties in learning to read and write, manifested like dyslexia, and resulting from visual disorders such as abnormal ocular accommodation and abnormalities in binocular-spatial vision (abnormal convergence, covert strabismus, abnormal fusion and stereopsis, abnormal visual localisation) and abnormally corrected visual defects.

There can be several causes of visual perception disorders:

  • defects of the visual organ (short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism),
  • disorders of the organ of vision (disorders of the visual process),
  • malfunction of the part of the brain responsible for visual analysis and synthesis.

Abnormal visual perception can be one of the root causes of developmental dyslexia.

What are the symptoms of optodyslexia in children:

  • excessive fatigue during close work,
  • increasing difficulty in transcribing from the blackboard at the end of the lesson,
  • getting lost in the text, eating words while reading,
  • headaches when returning from school, similar problems during reading, doing homework,
  • the child reads with his head tilted, catches on furniture when walking around the house,
  • problems with judging distances, for example when catching a ball.

If these symptoms manifest themselves in your child, it is advisable to see an ophthalmologist.


Sources:

  1. “DYSLEKSJA ROZWOJOWA – fakt i tajemnica w diagnostyce psychologiczno-pedagogicznej” pod redakcją naukową s. Marii Bogumiły Pecyna”, Opole, 2011;
  2. “Wspomaganie rozwoju dziecka z ryzyka dysleksji” pod redakcją Anety Rudzińskiej-Rogoży,
  3. “Dysleksja”, DR Marta Korendo. W: Akademia Pedagogiczna, Kraków.
  4. „Dysleksja rozwojowa – symptomy, patomechanizmy, terapia pedagogiczna”, BOGDANOWICZ Marta, 1997. W: Terapia, Numer Specjalny, Warsaw Voice S.A., Warszawa.