Reading Disability: Do the Eyes Have It?

Poor school performance is an increasingly common presenting complaint in pediatric clinics and offices.1 The underachieving student can be an exasperating challenge to parents, teachers, and pediatricians. Delays in learning to read are among the most common manifestations of the so-called "low severity-high prevalence" disabilities of schoolchildren. Various subtle developmental lags interact with environmental conditions, educational experiences, and the child's intrinsic temperamental repertoire, with resultant delays in the acquisition of academic skill. It is difficult to stand by and observe passively a precipitous decline inn self-esteem, as a schoolchild becomes aware that peers are learnningn to read and he is not.