Astigmatism mimicking Dyslexia

[Tesh11]

Bit of a long shot but anyone have any experience of this? For the past year my ds8 has been having extra tuition to help with possible traits of dyslexia (not properly diagnosed) as he has struggled with reading, writing and spelling, he’s roughly a term behind in this which is why we’ve got him the extra help. However we have just got back from the opticians and he has astigmatism in his right eye, they have said this could account for a lot of what he’s struggled with at school, his eyes have got tired and he’s losing concentration easily. Feel terrible for not taking him earlier but never thought he would need glasses never complain of headaches/vision problems. Now wondering if there is dyslexia at all or if this has been the problem all along?!

[dx4100]

This has been happening for decades and decades sadly and is not a new thing. Not particularly dyslexia being misdiagnosed but children struggling in school due to undiagnosed eye sight issues.

Happens less now than back in the 80s for example when parents would purposely avoid getting kids for glasses due to the stigma.

Parents should keep and eye out for turns in eyes, and kids leaning close to text books etc.

Hopefully your child can catch up.

[Floridatilly]

My son has dyslexia and was given glasses for astigmatism in year 6 (he is now in year 9) but his dyslexia only got diagnosed recently so it’s not made any difference.
When he was in year 6 he was very far behind academically and we felt terribly guilty for missing his need for glasses and wondered if that had made things worse at school but since wearing glasses (contact lenses actually) he has not progressed, he is still very far behind his peers.

[BevS97]

That’s interesting. My dd is being assessed for dyslexia and has been diagnosed with an astigmatism which is consider too minor to require glasses.

[Taffy1959]

I have an astigmatism as does DH and DS3 it's never affected me or DS3 with reading and neither of us fell behind at school.
DS3 was cross eyed when born and has had 2 operations to correct this but has worn glasses since he was 3.
The only thing that annoys him is 3D doesn't work for him it just looks like a normal film.
DH is also extremely short sighted which wasn't picked up until he was around 8 and as a result he fell behind in school his spelling is terrible and he always gets me to check any messages for mistakes before sending them I also have to fill in any forms as he just isn't confident enough to do them.

[klr15]

I have astigmatism in both eyes and a lazy eye and it never affected my reading or writing, but I was diagnosed at 3/4 so wore glasses from then on. I do struggle without the glasses, but I can still read okay. I can’t see 3D either.

[dx4100]

You are not going to struggle at school if you was diagnosed correctly at an early age and got glasses.

Astigmatism - unless very mild - does affect reading and writing - unless you have the glasses to correct them.

Unfortunately some children don't get diagnosed correctly at an early age and it can really hold them back. Kids don't speak up and just struggle on.

I have extremely strong Astigmatism and high prescription as do my kids.

[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.

[dx4100]

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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We are all doing our best. It can be hard to spot. There should be more checks from he NHS and schools for this stuff I think

[klr15]

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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Please don’t feel bad about it, you are not an optician and some children can cope to a certain extent enough for you not to notice.

I think I was only diagnosed so young because I went to a social services run nursery and they provided eye check ups and health checks and I am short sighted, have a lazy eye and astigmatism in both eyes.

I managed with the glasses and so did others, so hopefully if that is the problem then once he has the glasses he will catch up.