August: Children’s Vision and Learning Month – Lilly’s Story

In the summer of 1995, August was first declared Children’s Vision and Learning Month. The goal was to raise awareness about the many vision issues that can affect a child’s ability to learn. All too often, children are expected to master academic tasks before they’ve developed the foundational visual skills needed to succeed. This truth became very clear to me through a young girl who came in for vision therapy.

Lilly (name changed for privacy) was a typical third-grade girl—missing a few teeth, full of energy, and beaming with bright, beautiful smiles. That is, until you mentioned reading. As soon as the subject came up, Lilly would look down, shut down, and firmly declare that she didn’t like to read. Her mom’s account of her struggles painted an even more distressing picture.

Many children develop coping strategies to deal with the frustration of not being able to read. Lilly’s strategy was avoidance. When her teacher announced it was time for reading, Lilly would crawl under her desk and refuse to come out. If that didn’t work, she’d ask to go to the restroom, where she’d hide in a stall until the reading period was over. Can you imagine the fear, anxiety, and emotional distress a child must feel to go to such lengths just to avoid something so many take for granted?

To Lilly, reading wasn’t just hard—it was impossible. It felt like an insurmountable obstacle.

She began vision therapy during summer break. As you know, we don’t teach reading in vision therapy. Instead, we work on building the foundational visual skills that support all types of learning. Through oculomotor activities, Lilly learned to fixate on targets, make accurate saccadic movements, and sustain pursuit of moving objects. Accommodation exercises helped her develop flexibility and control in shifting focus from near to far. Binocular vision work helped her localize objects in space and coordinate her eyes effectively. Together, these new skills gave Lilly the tools she needed to accomplish tasks that once seemed impossible.

Before long, Lilly was reading during therapy sessions. Her mom was overjoyed the day she found Lilly curled up in her room, reading a book on her own—by choice—for the very first time.

When school resumed in the fall, everything had changed. Just a year before, Lilly had tested 2.5 years below grade level in reading. Now, at the beginning of the new school year, she tested two years ahead. The pride on Lilly’s face and the happiness in her mom’s voice were unforgettable.

This transformation was the direct result of recognizing the critical role vision plays in learning.

Let’s use Children’s Vision and Learning Month this August as an opportunity to spread awareness. Together, we can help more families discover the life-changing power of vision therapy—just like Lilly did.