Vision and The “Right to Read” Effort

Abstract

If the Right to Read effort is to have more than nominal success, all concerned professions must take a critical look at their particular contribution to a child's general success in learning and his success in learning to read in particular. In this paper, I shall attempt to bring a better understanding of vision as it operates for learning to all professions concerned with the success of the Right to Read effort. Vision is shown to be a complex process, including physical, physiological and psychological aspects. The importance of the efficient fuctioning of the physiological phase of vision is stressed along with the need to appraise all three aspects operating together as a unit in the dynamic process of vision as learning takes place by seeing. Since perception is the final phase of the total process of vision, the optometrist along with the educator and psychologist, is concerned with perception. If the child has a right to learn to read, he also has a right to a full appraisal and understanding of his ability to meet the demands made upon him in a learning situation. A full appraisal of a child's vision ability as related to learning requires careful testing of all three aspects of vision: physical, physiological and psychological.