Spelling: A Visual Skill

Approximately 1 out of every 4 children have trouble with learning and school performance due to a significant vision issue.

Take our Vision Quiz to learn whether you should explore Vision Therapy

Have you noticed your child or student struggling with spelling in any of the following ways?

Illegible handwriting
Letters get confused such as ‘d’ and ‘b’
Many words are misspelled
Poor Spacing
Struggles to write on ruled lines
Writes slowly
Child gets very tired when spelling
Child tries to avoid writing entirely

If any of the above sound familiar, it’s possible the issue behind the spelling troubles are related to your child’s visual skills. The good news is that there’s an entire field of developmental optometry which can help your child improve his visual skills in order to yield improved spelling results.

How is spelling related to vision?

Vision is so much more than 20/20 eyesight. Our eyes are part of the visual system which means they need to cooperate and work properly with each other and on top of that, they need to communicate with the brain in order to achieve the most effective vision. If anything in the visual system is off balance, it can affect day to day activities such as spelling, reading and many other essential functions.

Up to 75% of School Vision Screenings Miss A Vision Problem

(American Optometric Association)

When a child has trouble with spelling it could be a frustrating experience for the parents, the teacher and of course for the child who is struggling. Taking your child or having a teacher advise a parent to take their child to a developmental optometrist for a specialized visual exam and assessment could be the key to helping this child improve his or her spelling skills and even excel in school performance. The developmental optometrist is able to detect if there are visual skills that require strengthening and can provide professional training to help the child maximize his or her visual system in order to treat the visual challenges that the child is experiencing when trying to spell.

Spelling involves many skills including the integration of language, visual, and motor skills.

Which visual skills are involved with spelling?

Hand-eye coordination
Focusing up close
Eye tracking
Eye movement
Fixation
Visual processing
Visualization

A developmental optometrist is experienced in working with children to train and strengthen their visual skills, enabling them to excel at spelling and other tasks with greater ease and efficiency, breaking down the barriers that previously caused them so much frustration when trying to spell.