Visual difficulties questionnaire

Why is it important that you read this?

We ask that everyone being assessed has had an eyesight test in the 2 years leading up to the assessment date. 

However, even if a standard eyesight test comes back 'fine', it's possible for children and adults to still experience text moving on the page, eye strain, etc. which are not signs to dyslexia. This is often because the optician/optometrist is looking at the vision in each eye and eye health rather than whether the eyes are working together. Therefore, if you relate to any of the 10 visual disturbance questions, it's important to ask your optometrist to check for convergence and binocular vision problems. These need to be explored and treated before a dyslexia assessment.

Again, there's no link between dyslexia and the need for a coloured overlay. If you find that an overlay helps, this needs exploring by a fully qualified vision expert, like an optometrist as using an overlay, coloured paper, etc. may be masking a significant issue.

The questions

Please read through the questions below and answer YES or NO. If you're booking for your child, ask them these questions.

Answer 'YES' only if these are experienced persistently (i.e, occurring several times a week) and if they cannot be explained by feeling tired or ill, if not wearing prescribed glasses/contact lenses, if having to stare at the words because reading words is extremely challenging, etc.

  1. Do you OFTEN get headaches when you read or study?

  2. Do your eyes OFTEN feel sore or gritty or watery?

  3. Does reading from white paper or from a bright screen OFTEN feel uncomfortable?

  4. Does print OFTEN appear blurred or go in and out of focus when you read?

  5. Does the print or the book or the screen OFTEN appear double when you are reading?

  6. Do words OFTEN seem to move or merge when you are reading?

  7. Do objects in the distance OFTEN appear more blurred after you have been reading? 

  8. Do you OFTEN have to screw up your eyes to see more clearly when you are reading?

  9. Do you OFTEN move your eyes around or blink to make things clearer or more comfortable when you are reading? 

  10. Do you OFTEN experience any problems with your vision that interfere with your ability to read or study?

All questions answered 'no'?

Great! You can go ahead and book the assessment with me. The above questions will also be in the questionnaire that you'll be asked to complete to make sure that we're still okay to go ahead. Please still book an eyesight test if it hasn't been done in the past 2 years.

At least one question answered 'yes'?

PLEASE CONTACT ME TO DISCUSS IF YOU'RE IN DOUBT.

If you/your child uses a coloured overlay but the responses to ALL 10 questions would be 'no' if using the overlay, we can go ahead. However, I will still write an optometry referral letter if tests for convergence, binocular and visual stress have not alreay been conducted.

If you/your child finds that there is still at least one 'yes' for the above questions despite using a coloured overlay, please ask your high street optometrist to specifically check whether the eyes are working together (i.econvergence and binocular issues) and follow through on any treatment prescribed, such as eye exercises before booking an assessment with me. If no issues are seen, it may be that you/your child experiences visual stress and a colorimetry assessment may help. Optometrists that clients have recommended due to their comprehensive testing for visual stress include Surrey Opticians, Owen Leigh Optometry (Petersfield), Alexander Opticians (East Grinstead) and Lawrence i-care Optometrists (East Grinstead). This should be pursued before the assessment with me.

If you decide to nonetheless book an assessment with me as soon as possible and signs of unexplored visual disturbances are clearly compromising the reliability of the assessment outcome, the assessment will need to be halted and completed on a separate date once an optometrist has been consulted.