Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To measure emergent literacy skills in uncorrected hyperopic children. Methods: Eighty one children were recruited from a vision study and tested for visual acuity (VA; Cambridge Crowding cards, single optotypes and crowded letters) and then administered three standardized psychological tests to test phonological awareness, letter and word reading skills, and receptive vocabulary, and an experimental test of visual orthographic skills. Parents completed a survey of family demographics and the child's home literacy experiences. As dry refractions underestimated hyperopia, results presented are for 27 children with current cycloplegic data. When participants were classified on their cycloplegic refraction as hyperopes (≥ 2D OU; N=9; aged 64.6±11 m) or emmetropes (≤ 1.75 D OU; N=18; aged 57.7±10 m) performance differences in vision testing and literacy were found. This division showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups for age, and family variables that are known to contribute to emergent literacy skills such as birth order, number of children in family, mother’s or father’s education and reading skills, shared reading time, number of children’s books at home, etc. Results: Vision: The crowding effect was larger for hyperopes than for emmetropes for the left eye (Χ2(3) =12.82, p=.005), and approached significance for the right eye (Χ2(3) =7.18, p=.06). There were no significant differences for VA for single optotypes between hyperopes and emmetropes. Literacy: Hyperopes had lower scores than emmetropes for visual–orthographic discrimination (Mann–Whitney U=43.5, p=0.05), phonological awareness (Mann–Whitney U =35.5, p=0.02) and verbal ability and receptive vocabulary (Mann–Whitney U=40.5, p=0.04). They did not differ in letter and word recognition ability. While 4 of the emmetropes had received professional help for parental concerns (speech/language), only one hyperopes’ parent had speech/language concerns but had not consulted a professional. Conclusions: 1. Children who are hyperopic (≥2D) and have increased crowding effects also show reduced performance on tests of visual–orthographic discrimination, phonological awareness, and verbal ability. 2. Differences between hyperopes and emmetropes may represent developmental deficits in the visuocognitive domain1, but the parental questionnaire revealed no significant concerns for any of the hyperopes. 1 Atkinson, J, Anker, S, Nardini, M, Braddick, O. 2002. Strabismus, 10, 187–98
Keywords: hyperopia • visual acuity • reading