Reading Proficiency of Elderly Visually Impaired Persons after Rehabilitation

Abstract

This article reports on the results of a study of the reading proficiency of 3,200 visually impaired persons in Sweden (86 percent of whom were elderly) following training in the use of optical devices and a follow-up study of 5 percent of the sample three years later. After training, 95 percent of the original sample used optical aids as their preferred reading medium, 71 percent could read newsprint, and 50 percent read fluently. Three years later, there was a substantial drop in the number of patients using reading aids, although those who used them had become more proficient readers.