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| ADHD & VISION Attention Deficit Problems: Are They Due to Vision, ADHD, or Both? At Cook Vision Therapy Center, many of the children and adults we see suffer with attention deficit problems. If you have a child who enjoys being read to, who will sit and listen for long periods of time, but who demonstrates attention problems when using eyes for reading, deskwork, or homework, there is an excellent chance that the child’s attention problem is caused by an inability to use his eyes (vision). There is no “biochemical imbalance” which allows children to attend when information comes in through the ears, but distracts children when information comes in through the eyes. Problems with any or all of the 7 Visual Abilities could be masquerading as ADHD. Similarly, if a child can pay attention for math, but not pay attention for reading, there is no “biochemical imbalance,” which occurs when the child looks at numbers but disappears when the child looks at words. In math, other than story problems, there is less visual information to cope with. The child looks at individual numbers and, as often as not, copies them one at a time, getting the hands into the act. In reading, the letters are crowded together so visual problems can more easily cause the letters to “run together.” Children who can pay attention for math but lose attention for reading, frequently have a visual problem masquerading as an attention problem. However, if when you read to your child, his attention is better, but still a problem, then any number of causes—along with vision—could be contributing to the attention problem. For instance, your child might not understand the words, or there could be some other health problem making attention difficult. Whatever the reason for your child’s struggle with attention, or behavior, untreated vision problems will only increase frustration, trigger behavior problems, and make things worse. At Cook Vision Therapy we work with children whose attention problems are caused by vision. We also work with the vision problems of children who have attention problems caused by other reasons. It is not, uncommon, for instance, to encounter children with ADHD who struggle with reading, whether or not they are on medication. Handling the vision problems may help solve the reading problem even though a general attention problem remains for other reasons. |
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