Specs in Effect

Hello good people, and many salaams from a bitterly cold New York City!  Good thing, next week by this time, I will be back in sunny Kilimanjaro, planning the new year by the pool!!

Because I've been overwhelmed with last-minute business meetings, doctors' appointments, familial obligations, and pulling a few capers with friends and felines, I'm posting an article from one of my new favorite sources for education news: The Parent Herald, an online site delivering quality news on education, kids with special needs, wellness and health topics that focus on parents and the needs of their children.

Though many of their articles are useful only within the context of the developed world (reliance on technology, Western pedagogies), I found this one useful also within the context of the developing world.  After all, we have found that many Toa kids are under-performing due to a need of glasses anyway (this, in addition to hearing issues, speech impediments, and all manner of medical and psychosocial troubles).  What better *small yet effective*(one of my catchphrases!) intervention than a pair of magical specs to turn things around for a struggling young student?!

Cheerio for now.  Original content in the next couple weeks once my "great migration" has been made!!

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New Glasses Treatment – Transforming Lives of Dyslexic People

Pupils identified as dyslexic could double their reading speed with the help of specially designed corrective glasses according to the researchers from the independent optometrist group SchoolVision UK.  The 18-month study suggests that mismatched eye muscles in part cause dyslexia, not a problem solely in the brain, as is traditionally believed.

Professor Barbara Pierscionek, a specialist in eye and vision

research, said that the life of a child, as their scholastic and academic performance improves, can be vastly and rapidly transformed through a proper investigation and the correct treatment, which is not expensive.

 

The research carried out on 69 pupils at Hemyock Primary School in Cullompton, Devon, linked poor reading ability with incompetent eye muscles.  Due to be published towards the end of this year, preliminary findings of the study showed an improvement rate of almost 30 percent in reading speeds with some reading at twice the rate than without the spectacles and others unable to read without them.

 

According to an article in Sunday Express, the work is backed by previous studies carried out in Austria linking dyslexia in children to problems with their binocular vision.  Findings show that our "dominant" eye gives us positional sense while our "aiming" eye provides an appreciation of where an object is.

 

On September 4, 2013, an article in FoxNews said that dyslexia is the most affecting language-based learning disorder, making up about 70 to 80 percent of the 20 percent of the population with language-based learning disorders.  The most common symptom is simply trouble reading that is why it often goes undiagnosed.

 

Adam Banks, 38, had dyslexia for as long as he can remember.  When he shared his struggle with Dr. Morris Shamah, an ophthalmologist at Eye Care & Surgery Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., the latter thought that he might be a good candidate for specially tinted lenses called ChromaGen lenses.  ChromaGen lenses help dyslexic patients see words and texts more clearly and read faster.  Originally developed to treat color blindness, these lenses reduce the visual distortions perceived by dyslexic patients by altering the wavelength of light that reaches their eyes.

 

In an article published under ScienceDaily, it is stated that dyslexia generates difficulties in correctly and fluently recognizing words, writing without making spelling mistakes, and decoding words regardless of the school level or intelligence of the individual.  An effect on written work and reading, which stops dyslexics from naturally developing the necessary vocabulary and memory are the immediate consequences.  These glasses could be the solution.