Teachers are often the first to recognize when students are struggling in school due to underlying vision issues. The author, a vision therapist, describes a conversation with a friend who is a 5th grade teacher. The teacher noticed specific signs that some students were having trouble seeing, such as holding books very close or placing their heads on the table. She described one boy whose eyes turned inward, seeing double. The author explained to the teacher that this means the boy sees with only one eye. The teacher plans to speak to the boy's family about getting his vision checked, to help address his struggles in school.

1. Teachers on the Front Line
by Jane McClure, COVT
Vision Therapist
Excel Institute of Shelby
I recently had a great conversation with one of my dearest friends who teaches 5th grade. She and I
went to college at the same time and were on the same road of teaching for a while. Due to visual
issues within my own family, my path changed and I decided to work to become a certified neuro-
optometric vision therapist.
My friend shared how her heart breaks over seeing specific students struggling with school
work. She can tell which children are struggling with vision issues by how they hold books really
near, cover an eye or place their heads on the table when reading. They cannot copy information
accurately off the white board. These issues are truly affecting their ability to progress.
She described a particular student to me. Both of this child's eyes turned into his nose. She asked
me what it is like for him to see. At one time this child was most likely seeing double. I asked her to
cross her eyes and notice the result. She was able to cross her eyes, (not everybody can, another
topic for another day!) she did indeed see double.
Since vision is brain based, the brain does NOT like to see double so one eye will ignore or
"suppress" the image. Therefore the child my friend described sees with only one eye and that eye
has a limited range of visual processing due to it's posture.
Now that my teacher friend knows what this boy is NOT seeing, she will speak to his family and
share with them the example of crossing their eyes like she experimented with.
Teachers very often are the front line of realizing there may be more to a child struggling in school
than "not trying hard enough" or not attending to what they need to be in the moment. I am grateful
my friend is going to champion her student by sharing that there are ways to address and improve
children's vision and therefore school performance and self-confidence.