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Dyslexia (learning disability)
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Learning disabilities can arise for many reasons, sometimes without an organic basis. However, neurological diseases, especially in combination with mild mental retardation or attention deficit disorder, have a significant impact on the learning process. The term "dyslexia" itself is intended for those conditions when the patient has a specific inability to read in the absence of neurological problems, normal intelligence and good health. Many of these patients are referred to ophthalmologists due to the erroneous belief that the child's specific structure of the visual organ, eye movements or disorders of the physiology of vision are the cause of poor academic performance.
However, careful dynamic observation does not reveal specific visual disorders, which are not more common in these patients than in the control group of children of the same age. No connection with dyslexia was found in the following disorders:
- strabismus, especially convergent with a small angle of deviation or convergence insufficiency;
- the relationship of ocular dominance of the right or left eye over the right or left hand;
- pathologies of saccadic movements;
- pathological changes in vergence;
- disorders of the vestibular-oculomotor connection;
- optokinetic nystagmus;
- dysfunction of the magnocellular ganglion cells of the geniculate body.
The relationship between some cases of dyslexia and neurological pathology is beyond doubt. Computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and autopsy data suggest that dyslexic patients exhibit altered asymmetries of the brain structures that are present in the norm: for example, the right temporoparietal and occipital regions are larger than the left. Other pathological studies reveal abnormal neuronal migration in the cortex on the left, especially around the Sylvian fissure and left temporal lobe. Some studies report foci of neuronal ectopia and bilateral thalamic pathology. However, these studies do not support a link to specific disorders of the oculomotor system or pathology of the anterior visual pathway. There is a quasi-medical opinion about the appropriateness of using the following treatments for dyslexia:
Special exercises for the development of eye movements;
- vestibular stabilizing treatment;
- glasses with tinted lenses;
- general physical fitness.
However, the conducted scientific studies have not confirmed the effectiveness of the listed methods in the treatment of children with learning disabilities. This, of course, does not mean that the pathology of the visual system in children with dyslexia does not require adequate correction, but emphasizes the lack of a direct connection between visual disorders and learning disabilities.
Thus, the role of the ophthalmologist is reduced to the examination of the visual and oculomotor systems and the correction of the disorders identified. It is also necessary to inform the parents and help them understand the problem that has arisen, explaining the importance of good education and reconciling the parents and the child, who often cannot understand the situation.
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