Astigmatism mimicking Dyslexia

[Leggibone]

Im extremely short sighted with astigmatism, I think I’ve always had the astigmatism as well, never had any issues reading - I read very quickly, spelling I struggle with a little bit - more my fingers moving fast on the keyboard though then an actual Inability to spell?

Obviously eyes straining won’t help him in anyway though, so hopefully you see an improvement (Especially if he’s having issues reading the board at this key age)

[400ixl]

Our DD has both, her astigmatism was picked up very young and she has had glasses since a toddler. The dyslexia later and she has a coloured reading card and we get her writing pads in a close colour to the one she needs to help.

The school were brilliant in helping her and she had extra time in exams etc which really helped her confidence no end.

So don't despair, it can all come right in the end.

[ely3857]

How is he doing now?

My DD has just received her official diagnoses of dyslexia and she’s around an academic year behind with some gaps in basic phonic knowledge (she’s 8). She has worn glasses since she was 3 (& has had 5 hearing tests over the years) so we knew it wasn’t that.

My main point being though you mentioned one term behind which seems very mild for a learning difficulty so I’m hoping the glasses have helped him loads.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Tesh11

Thankyou all for your replies, I guess only time will tell with glasses on how much difference it will make, it certainly sounds like it can’t have done him any favours though, very annoyed with myself that I didn’t take him sooner.

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Don’t be annoyed with yourself. I didn’t get glasses until I was eight, I remember being shouted at in school (this was the 1970s) because I wouldn’t read out from the blackboard and because I copied things down incorrectly, because I couldn’t see it! It did not cause me any long or even medium or short term damage whatsoever though, it was fixed the day I put glasses on.

[LLamb]

Don’t beat yourself up he has the glasses now and hopefully this will help.
I have quite a bad astigmatism in both eyes 3.75 and 3.50 (can’t get contact lenses) but my vision is actually fine so I went for years without glasses as I generally manage without them. Mainly only wear glasses for driving and distance.
So it can be difficult to spot that glasses are required. The eye focuses in a different way due to the shape of the eye rather than the lens being too thick or thin.

[Stitchfan626]

I have astigmatism and awful eyesight & my son also wears glasses for astigmatism. I was hoping it would help him read and write also, but it made no real difference. He turns 7 next week and is to young to be diagnosed yet, but both his teacher and myself think he is dyslexic as he is really behind in reading and writing and really struggles.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Both myself and DH have very poor eyesight and astigmatism. Mine was diagnosed when I was five, and I’ve never had any problems with learning. DH didn’t get his diagnosed until he was around 20. He struggled in school, was classed as not interested in learning by teachers so left school with no qualifications. He says now that he failed to see the board and was too shy to say anything (he is very quiet) so he gave up.

Thankfully, this tends not to happen so much now as these problems do get picked up. Even a Mis-diagnosis of dyslexia means the child gets help, and possibly the correct diagnosis, whereas my DH was ignored. I hope your son finds the glasses help him Tesh, you shouldn’t feel guilty, it’s good that it’s been spotted now and hopefully he can get the right help now