Oculomotor-Related Measures Are Predictive of Reading Acquisition in First Grade Early Readers

Some estimates suggest that one in seven good readers and the majority of children with reading difficulties suffer from oculomotor dysfunction (OMD), an umbrella term for abnormalities in comfortable and accurate fixations, pursuits, and saccades. However, national vision evaluation programs worldwide are often limited to distance visual acuity (dVA), not testing for OMD despite its high prevalence and the ease of detecting it in brief optometric evaluations. We hypothesized that reading acquisition is dependent on good oculomotor functions, and therefore inadequate oculomotor control will be associated with reading difficulties. We retrospectively examined and compared oculomotor evaluations (using DEM and NSUCO) and reading assessments (using standardized national reading norms) of a normative class (28 first graders (6–7 yr. olds)) that were independently obtained while blind to the other assessment. Better oculomotor performance as estimated by DEM was associated with better reading performance, and almost a third (29.6%) of the children were categorized by DEM as having OMD-related difficulties. Control analysis revealed dVA was not positively associated with reading performance. Linear regression analyses further corroborated these findings. Since this study is based on a small cohort and since there are studies suggesting that DEM may actually reflect visual processing speed or cognitive factors rather than oculomotor function, replications are needed to substantiate the direct contribution of oculomotor functions to reading acquisition. Young children struggling with reading may benefit from a comprehensive visual evaluation, including oculomotor testing, to provide a more thorough assessment of their learning-related difficulties.