Reading Learning Disabilities and Visual Stress in the Classroom: - Time for a New Perspective?

Abstract

In the area of Learning Disabilities research, there now exists a strong base of converging evidence indicating that anomalies in visual sensory processing frequently underlie (or at least contribute to) reading and writing difficulties, as well as many cases of attentional/behavioural disorders. Previous research has shown that the visual perception deficit Meares-Irlen/visual stress syndrome, or Visual Stress (VS), affects a third of individuals diagnosed with reading disorders and 5-12% of the general population. Symptoms of VS include visual distortions/'movement' of words while reading, untidy and rapidly worsening handwriting, impaired visual-search performance, sensitivity to fluorescent lighting, cognitive fatigue and headaches. VS-symptomatology has also been reported in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), photosensitive epilepsy, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, behavioural disorders, traumatic brain injury, and cases of stroke. To date, however, investigations of learning difficulties have tended to neither consider nor control for the potential latent influences of visual-perceptual factors. There is a need for far greater consideration of VS in learning disabilities research, and this need underpins our present international collaboration. This symposium brings together the findings of five investigations of reading and learning difficulties (two from Spain, one from Malaysia, and two from Australia). The opening presentation investigates levels of reading discomfort in proficient-reading university students, under typical classroom conditions. The second presentation explores an innovative concept proposing that relatively recent changes to fundamental reading conditions in classrooms have not enhanced reading competency and, in fact, have made reading more difficult for students. The third presentation provides novel insights into the assessment of psychological functioning in adolescents with generalised learning disabilities. The fourth presentation tests the usefulness of Naming Speed performance variables in discerning reading disabilities from ADHD, and/or comorbidity of both. The closing presentation reviews existing assessments and recent trends, with a specific focus on identifying visual-perceptual factors in reading difficulties.