To be a great soccer player you’d need to have great foot movement. Why do we so often forget that young readers need to have accurate eye movement? It’s still too common for educators, doctor’s and parent’s alike to overlook eye movement, or even be stuck in the old dogma that eye movement has nothing to do reading, or that vision therapy doesn’t change reading ability.
It makes logical sense that accurate eye movement is required for reading and learning. No child who is struggling with reading, diagnosed dyslexia or another learning disability should have their eye tracking overlooked.
Here is another great study to back that up.
The Effect of In-School Saccadic Training on Reading Fluency and Comprehension in First and Second Grade Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Abstract: Efficient eye movements provide a physical foundation for proficient reading skills. We investigated the effect of in-school saccadic training on reading performance. In this cross-over design, study participants (n ¼ 327, 165 males; mean age [SD]: 7 y 6 mo [1y 1 mo]) were randomized into treatment and control groups, who then underwent eighteen 20-minute training sessions over 5 weeks using King-Devick Reading Acceleration Program Software. Pre- and posttreatment reading assessments included fluency, comprehension, and rapid number naming performance. The treatment group had significantly greater improvement than the control group in fluency (6.2% vs 3.6%, P ¼ .0277) and comprehension (7.5% vs 1.5%, P ¼ .0002). The high-needs student group significantly improved in fluency (P < .001) and comprehension (P < .001). We hypothesize these improvements to be attributed to the repetitive practice of reading-related eye movements, shifting visuospatial attention, and visual processing. Consideration should be given to teaching the physical act of reading within the early education curriculum.