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Health & Fitness

Eye-Opening Statistics on How Vision Impacts Learning

These eye-opening statistics reveal just how dramatically vision can impact learning.

We take a lot of things for granted in this world. One of them is our vision. It’s kind of like breathing: You never think about it unless there is a problem.

Unfortunately, a problem with the visual system can have a dramatic impact on a child’s ability to learn. Consider the followings statistics:

• 80 percent of children who are reading disabled, including dyslexics, have vision problems which can be solved.

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• 25 percent of ALL children have a vision problem significant enough to affect their performance in school.

• 95 percent of first-grade non-readers have significant vision problems. They have nearly 2.5 times more visual problems than first-grade high achievers.

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• In one California-funded study, recidivism (repeat offenders) reduced from 45 percent to 16 percent when wards received on-site optometric vision therapy.

• Only 13 percent of mothers with children younger than 2 years of age have taken their baby for a functional well-care eye exam. Yet 1 out 10 children is at risk for having an undiagnosed vision problem.

Perhaps the most unsettling statistic is that school vision screenings, such as a Snellen eyechart, detect only 20-30 percent of vision problems in schools.

Please download our Vision and Learning guide for more information on vision problems.

(Note: These statistics were pulled from the website visionandlearning.org. The statistic stating that 25 percent of all children having a vision problem significant enough to affect their school performance comes from the American Optometric Association.)

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