Are visual anomalies related to reading ability?

Although reading ability is known to be related to a large number of factors, when a child having a reading problem is brought to an optometrist he (or she) has the responsibility of determining whether or not a visual anomaly may be a major or contributing cause of the reading problem. A review of the literature indicates that myopia is consistently associated with good reading performance; and that hypermetropia, astigmatism, lateral phorias, poor fusional vergences, strabismus and color vision anomalies tend to be associated with poorer than average reading performance. Well-designed and well-controlled studies are needed, particularly concerning the effect on reading ability of the correction of visual anomalies. Until such studies have been done, any child who has a reading problem deserves a thorough optometric or ophthalmologic examination and the correction of any visual anomalies found.