Programa Buen Comienzo para la salud infantil: identificación e intervención en dificultades de aprendizaje relacionadas con la visión

Programa Buen Comienzo para la salud infantil: identificación e intervención en dificultades de aprendizaje relacionadas con la visión

The aim of this study was to present population epidemiological data on vision-related learning difficulties collected in the Good Start Program. Participated 458 students from the third year of Elementary School (8.6 ± 0.7 years old; 51% girls). First, the training of professionals in the area of Health and Education was carried out. Results indicate an important proportion of participants, identified with the Visual and Learning Difficulties Characterization Questionnaire, with difficulties with photophobia, tiredness or headache, depth perception, ball sports, tiredness in the car, reading, reading on the computer, math, handwriting, writing essay and copying. Symptomatic participants (16%), all with adequate visual acuity, were referred for evaluation with the Irlen Perceptual Reading Scale of the Irlen Method. Of these symptomatic participants, 86% reported reading difficulty and 75% moderate to severe reading discomfort. All participants, except one, reported considerable improvement in visual quality with at least one spectral overlay, being the most frequent Purple, Yellow and Gray. Symptomatic participants reported recognizing an average of 3.6 of the eleven illustrations of visual distortions in reading, being the most frequent Washout, Blurry, Shaky, Rivers, Star Wars and Wavy. Population epidemiological data collected in the Good Star Program demonstrated a relevant prevalence of vision-related learning difficulties in schoolchildren.