Info for Parents & Teachers

"Before we saw Frank, my son James was having a terrible time at school. He struggled to keep up with what the teacher was writing on the blackboard, and quickly got behind. He lost confidence as well as his drive to learn. We were referred to Frank who helped James rebuild his ability to see and interpret what he was seeing. Gradually he found he could keep up with his peers and it has really turned things around for him. It is such a relief to see him thriving again". Patricia, Enfield.

There are signs, symptoms and behaviours to look for that are associated with vision related problems. Some of these are:

SYMPTOMS	POSSIBLE VISUAL PROBLEM
Rubs eyes / squints	Nearsighted, farsighted or astigmatism
Closes or covers one eye. Reads for a short time only	Possible inability to co-ordinate eyes together effectively.
Holds things very close, headaches when reading	Inability to refocus the eyes or maintain clear focus.
Moves head excessively when reading. Skips lines, words when reading.	Eye movements are not smooth and accurate from one point to another.
Difficulty recognising letters/shapes. Trouble learning concepts eg. Size, shape	Inability to visually discriminate differences in size, shape etc.
Poor reading comprehension. Poor recall of visually presented material.	Inability to remember and understand what is seen.
Sloppy handwriting / can't stay on the line. Poor copying	Inability to process and reproduce visual images by writing / drawing.
Trouble learning left and right. Reverses letters / numbers.	Difficulty with laterality and directionality.