Visual Stress Services

dyslexia services

Schoolvision Services Northern Ireland

New Schoolvision research could transform the lives of millions of visual stress sufferers. Congratulations to our friend and colleague, Geraint Griffiths (Schoolvision UK) for hitting national headlines! Read how his latest research has proved that the majority of visual stress symptoms can be addressed by solving the muscular anomalies around the eyes and subsequently watching reading capability ‘flow’ over the ensuing months.

The research, carried out on 69 pupils at Hemyock primary school in Devon, linked poor reading ability with incompetent eye muscles, but also showed major improvements could be achieved through the use of specially prescribed glasses.

Preliminary findings of the study, due to be published soon, show on average pupils who were treated with bespoke glasses had an almost 30% improvement in reading speeds with some reading at twice the speed than without the spectacles.

McCrystal Opticians is proud to be one of the first in the UK & Ireland to offer the Schoolvision programme. Noel has received the ‘Outstanding Contribution to General Practice’ Award from the Association of Schoolvision Practitioners.

Schoolvision is a new concept born out of research into Sports Vision and a pilot study carried out at Moreton School in Wolverhampton in collaboration with Adidas Eyewear.

The concept is based on the philosophy that many of the visual skills required for reading are similar to those required for example for ball catching. The techniques developed to screen visual skills in athletes can be transposed to schoolchildren to identify and correct potential problems at a very young age, for example to identify a predisposition to visual stress. Visual assessments of a number of pupils were conducted at the invitation of Head teacher Mr Tony Leach, in the hope of better understanding and correcting reading difficulties.

The breakthrough in the understanding of eye dominance and dominance type came directly from research into sports vision. This led to the proposition of the two primary occupational visual skills of aiming and anticipation. The way in which visual correction or lack of it affects athletes depends largely on their eye dominance.

There followed an intuitive leap in which we considered that reading could be thought as an “aiming” sport, and that similar principles may apply.

A three year study at Moreton School in Wolverhampton examined these principles as applied to reading in about 200 year 7 children. The results of this trial, and the understanding gained from it, went on to form the basis of the Schoolvision Diploma.

Moreton School stands out as a beacon in a deprived area of Wolverhampton. It has gone from a failing school to one of the most improved in the country in four years, driven by the work and experience of Super Head Tony Leach.