Causes of Reading Difficulties

There are 2 conditions that cause the majority of reading problems - dyslexia and poor eye control.

If a pupil is not making good progress learning to read with phonics, then it is probably because they have poor phonological awareness, or they have poor eye control, or both.

Symptoms of Dyslexia

  • Finds reading hard

  • Misreads words

  • Not fluent

  • Poor comprehension

  • Poor spelling

  • Poor phonological awareness

    • Can't hear which words rhyme.

    • Can't identify the first or last sound in a word.

  • Poor working memory

  • Slow processing speed

Most children with dyslexia have poor phonological awareness. Reading Unlocked and Fluency Builder are phonological awareness interventions.

Symptoms of poor eye control

  • Finds reading hard

  • Misreads words

  • Not fluent

  • Poor comprehension

  • Poor spelling

  • Poor tracking

    • Reverses letters and words

    • Loses place when reading

    • Reads slowly

  • Poor convergence

    • Words appear to move

    • Words look blurry or double.

    • Reading gives you eye strain or makes you tired

Poor eye control is very common and is not tested in a standard eye test. Engaging Eyes is a vision training program which improves reading.