Developing visual and reading efficiency in older adults.

The authors hypothesized that adults, ages 62 to 75 years, who are in good health for their age can be trained to read more efficiently using approaches similar to those reported for younger individuals. Recruited successively from the State College of Optometry's primary care clinic, the subjects were 20 volunteers who had minimum corrected Snellen visual acuity of at least 6/9 (20/30) at distance and near, no oculomotor anomalies, and no significant ocular diseases such as diabetic retinitis. After a reading efficiency pretest using the Eye-trac, an infrared eye-movement recording device, the subjects were assigned to either a control group or a reading efficiency training group. Those in the control group were tested again after the control period. All subjects were retested after experimental intervention that consisted of rapid visual processing, oculomotor, and Guided Reading training. The results revealed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in all aspects of reading efficiency, including reduced number of fixations and regressions per 100 words, increased average span of recognition, and improved reading rate without loss of comprehension, only in those who received training. Our recommendation is that training in reading efficiency should be stressed to a greater extent in reading, educational, and vision therapy programs at all age levels.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes