Study finds no link between dyslexia and eyesight

A first-of-its-kind study using data acquired from over 11,000 eye tests on children has found no link between eyesight and dyslexia.

Researchers from Bristol and Newcastle universities looked at the results of eye tests in 5,822 participants in Children of the 90s, a large population-based study in the Bristol area. Of these children, three per cent had severe dyslexia and eight per cent had moderate dyslexia. The researchers compared the test results of the children with severe dyslexia with the other 5,650 children of the same age in Children of the 90s who didn’t have dyslexia.

The majority of the dyslexic children were found to have had perfect vision on each of the tests. More than eight in ten (84 per cent) of the dyslexic children fused information from each eye perfectly whilst 16 per cent did not, but importantly said researchers, one in ten (11 per cent) of non-dyslexic children did not fuse either.