Too often parents and educators don't recognize that symptoms of vision problems can masquerade as learning disabilities.

If your child has one or more of the following symptoms, and is struggling to learn, they may have a vision based learning problem. Even if they test with 20/20 vision, with or without glasses or contacts, they could still have a vision problem that often goes undiagnosed unless evaluated by a developmental optometrist such as Dr. Carl O. Myers of the Indiana Vision Development Center, P.C. in Fort Wayne.

How many of these performance symptoms does your child have?

[ ] Avoidance of near work

[ ] Frequent loss of place

[ ] Omits, inserts or rereads letters/words

[ ] Confuses similar looking words

[ ] Failure to recognize the same word in the next sentence

[ ] Poor reading comprehension

[ ] Letter/word reversals after the first grade

[ ] Difficulty copying from the chalkboard

[ ] Poor handwriting, misaligns numbers

[ ] Book held too close to the eyes

[ ] Inconsistent or poor sports performance

Secondary Symptoms

[ ] Smart in everything but school

[ ] Low self-esteem, poor self-image

[ ] Temper flares up, aggressiveness

[ ] Frequent crying

[ ] Short Attention Span

[ ] Fatigue, frustration, stress

[ ] Irritability

[ ] Day dreaming

Other symptoms to consider:

Often children with vision issues may be labeled as lazy, dyslexic, ADD, ADHD, learning disabled, delinquent, behavior problem or an underachiever.

Physical symptoms that may indicate a vision based learning problem include red, sore or itchy eyes; jerky eye movements or one eye turning in and out, squinting, eye rubbing or excessive blinking, blurred or double vision, headaches, dizziness or nausea after reading, head tilting, closing or blocking one eye when reading.

Researchers estimate that 1 out of 4 children have an undiagnosed vision based learning problem.

If your child has one or more of the above symptoms, a developmental vision consultation will test all the visual skills critical to school success.

For more information contact the Indiana Vision Development Center at 260-497-7973. Or by e-mail at indianavdc at frontier dot com.