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When Your Child Struggles: The Myths of 20/20 Vision
Paperback: 174 pages Publisher: Cook Vision Therapy Centers; First Edition edition (June 1, 1992) Language: English
- GenresNonfiction
174 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
About the author
David Cook
3 books2 followersDavid [7^] Cook
Clinician, author, educator, Dr. David L. Cook, is one of the Nation's leading authorities on vision therapy. After graduating from U.C.L.A, where he was co-captain of the gymnastics team, and Pacific University College of Optometry, he attended the Vision Therapy Residency Program at the State University of New York's College of Optometry, where he became a clinical instructor.
Clinician, author, educator, Dr. David L. Cook, is one of the Nation's leading authorities on vision therapy. After graduating from U.C.L.A, where he was co-captain of the gymnastics team, and Pacific University College of Optometry, he attended the Vision Therapy Residency Program at the State University of New York's College of Optometry, where he became a clinical instructor.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 15, 2014
A fantastic primer on how vision works. So many of the “weird” reading behaviors I saw in my students are explained here. Why in the world isn’t this information included in teacher certification programs?!
“When we use the term vision we are not just referring to your child’s eyes. We are referring to how your child USES those eyes to communicate with the world. In other words, vision is made up of all seven of the [visual abilities described below].”
1. Acuity: sharpness of sight; the familiar 20/20
2. Accommodation: keeping things clear; flexibility (how fast can accommodate), maintenance (how long things stay in focus without re-focusing), power (the closer to the eye that things remain in focus, the more powerful the accommodation). When we accommodate, we adapt our vision to see at some desired distance by changing the shape of the lens in our eye using the Ciliary muscle. If accommodation is deficient, your child will struggle to keep things clear.
3. Teaming: the ability to maintain both eyes pointed at precisely the same object, keeping things from going double. Those with teaming issues rapidly fatigue and lose comprehension when reading.
4. Eye Movements: the ability to accurately track with your eyes when moving from one point to another. If we are not looking directly at some thing, we can’t really see it, it’s in our periphery, and the periphery sends significantly fewer signals to the brain.
5. Visual Perception: the ability to “understand” the information being brought in through the eyes, comparing things and recognizing how they are different.
6. Hand-Eye Coordination: the eyes guide the hands, as in guiding a pencil
7. Visual Imagery: the ability to see pictures in your mind
a. Visual Memory: the ability to remember a picture in the mind that was seen in the past,
b. Visualization: the ability to create a new image in your mind
“If your child has perfect vision, he can comfortably, continuously, and effortlessly see at all distances (including reading distance) without any blurring or doubling. He can accurately aim his eyes (and his attention) at anything he chooses to inspect. He can easily see how details are similar or different and use his eyes to direct his hands or other body motions. He can remember what he has seen in the past and picture what he would like to accomplish in the future.” (Pg. 129)
Although I notice vision-related behaviors from all of the categories above, I see mostly issues with accommodation in Isaac:
1. Reading comprehension is good when your child first begins reading but then rapidly reduces the longer reading is continued. Your child begins reading well, but too rapidly begins to squirm and want to get away.
2. Your child holds books too close to his eyes or moves the book or his head closer and further away as if to clear things.
3. Your child makes seemingly careless errors when reading or copying from the chalkboard. Long words like rhinoceros are recognized while little words such as of, as, and is, or small beginnings and endings of words are misread or confused.
“When we use the term vision we are not just referring to your child’s eyes. We are referring to how your child USES those eyes to communicate with the world. In other words, vision is made up of all seven of the [visual abilities described below].”
1. Acuity: sharpness of sight; the familiar 20/20
2. Accommodation: keeping things clear; flexibility (how fast can accommodate), maintenance (how long things stay in focus without re-focusing), power (the closer to the eye that things remain in focus, the more powerful the accommodation). When we accommodate, we adapt our vision to see at some desired distance by changing the shape of the lens in our eye using the Ciliary muscle. If accommodation is deficient, your child will struggle to keep things clear.
3. Teaming: the ability to maintain both eyes pointed at precisely the same object, keeping things from going double. Those with teaming issues rapidly fatigue and lose comprehension when reading.
4. Eye Movements: the ability to accurately track with your eyes when moving from one point to another. If we are not looking directly at some thing, we can’t really see it, it’s in our periphery, and the periphery sends significantly fewer signals to the brain.
5. Visual Perception: the ability to “understand” the information being brought in through the eyes, comparing things and recognizing how they are different.
6. Hand-Eye Coordination: the eyes guide the hands, as in guiding a pencil
7. Visual Imagery: the ability to see pictures in your mind
a. Visual Memory: the ability to remember a picture in the mind that was seen in the past,
b. Visualization: the ability to create a new image in your mind
“If your child has perfect vision, he can comfortably, continuously, and effortlessly see at all distances (including reading distance) without any blurring or doubling. He can accurately aim his eyes (and his attention) at anything he chooses to inspect. He can easily see how details are similar or different and use his eyes to direct his hands or other body motions. He can remember what he has seen in the past and picture what he would like to accomplish in the future.” (Pg. 129)
Although I notice vision-related behaviors from all of the categories above, I see mostly issues with accommodation in Isaac:
1. Reading comprehension is good when your child first begins reading but then rapidly reduces the longer reading is continued. Your child begins reading well, but too rapidly begins to squirm and want to get away.
2. Your child holds books too close to his eyes or moves the book or his head closer and further away as if to clear things.
3. Your child makes seemingly careless errors when reading or copying from the chalkboard. Long words like rhinoceros are recognized while little words such as of, as, and is, or small beginnings and endings of words are misread or confused.
March 11, 2018
Game changer. I was introduced to this book recently by a colleague from the Find Your Focus Foundation. As they described symptoms of vision struggles, I immediately thought of my seven year old. He is a smart kid. He works hard. But reading is a constant struggle, and don't even get me started on his spelling. He has headaches in the afternoon--the doctor suggested he's dehydrated and needs more water. I don't think that's it. We had him screened last week, and I read this on a plane a couple of days ago. I am SO EXCITED for him to meet the doctor in a couple of days and (I hope) start some life-changing vision therapy so his performance is a reflection of his ability and effort. As a literacy specialist, this also started me thinking about how many of my students are affected by this--is it a root of dyslexia? I wouldn't be surprised! How come more people are not exploring this? I will be very interested to see how things progress.
November 28, 2022
I'm not big on prayers but am screaming to the universe, desperate to find a 'solution' to my daughter's struggles. I feel hopeful that my bright and intelligent child will find the confidence she needs, by using the tools provided by Dr. Myers and his team, to finally excel at and enjoy reading!!
October 24, 2020
A great way to introduce people to vision and how it can affect our lives, especially those of school children.
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October 8, 2025Read for work.
March 10, 2026
As someone with good vision, I’ve had the privilege of living more than forty years giving little thought to the eyes and how they work. I would never have considered picking up a book about vision until it was pressed into my hands at a recent eye appointment for my kids. And wow, am I glad that I read this because I learned SO MUCH about the eyes and vision that I didn’t know and really should have.
This short book, which is divided into brief chapters with easy-to-follow recaps, begins with a primer on eyesight and how it works. Dr. Cook explains the various types of vision problems, beginning with the ones most of us are familiar with that are detected during a routine vision exam (myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism). But—and this is something I’d never realized—a child might pass an eye exam but STILL need glasses because “20/20 means only that your child can see tiny letters across the room FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO READ THE EYE CHART. . . 20/20 eyesight is absolutely NO guarantee that your child has the visual abilities to succeed in school.”
Even children who do not need glasses may have vision problems that are not solved by corrective lenses because “when we use the term vision we are not just referring to your child’s eyes. We are referring to how your child USES those eyes to communicate with the world. In other words, vision is made up of seven visual abilities.” The author uses case studies to explain these abilities (acuity, accommodation, teaming, eye movements, visual perception, hand-eye coordination, and visual imagery) and offers tools for potentially identifying less-obvious vision problems in our children. He then goes on to explain how each of these problems might be addressed through vision therapy.
As Dr. Cook clarifies, a child with perfect vision “can comfortably, continuously, and effortlessly see at all distances (including reading distance) without any blurring or doubling. He can accurately aim his eyes (and his attention) at anything he chooses to inspect. He can easily see how details are similar or different and use his eyes to direct his hands or other body motions. He can remember what he has seen in the past and picture what he would like to accomplish in the future.” I am so glad to know that there is hope for the kids who DON’T YET have perfect vision. This book is an invaluable resource for parents whose children are struggling to read or to learn.
The book’s concluding chapters are essentially an advertisement for this doctor’s specific vision therapy, and I didn’t love the gimmicky tone to these final pages, but it is helpful to know that there are resources available to families seeking vision help for their kiddos when all other options have proven ineffective.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (Rounded to 5 Stars on Goodreads) // Book Format: Print
This short book, which is divided into brief chapters with easy-to-follow recaps, begins with a primer on eyesight and how it works. Dr. Cook explains the various types of vision problems, beginning with the ones most of us are familiar with that are detected during a routine vision exam (myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism). But—and this is something I’d never realized—a child might pass an eye exam but STILL need glasses because “20/20 means only that your child can see tiny letters across the room FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO READ THE EYE CHART. . . 20/20 eyesight is absolutely NO guarantee that your child has the visual abilities to succeed in school.”
Even children who do not need glasses may have vision problems that are not solved by corrective lenses because “when we use the term vision we are not just referring to your child’s eyes. We are referring to how your child USES those eyes to communicate with the world. In other words, vision is made up of seven visual abilities.” The author uses case studies to explain these abilities (acuity, accommodation, teaming, eye movements, visual perception, hand-eye coordination, and visual imagery) and offers tools for potentially identifying less-obvious vision problems in our children. He then goes on to explain how each of these problems might be addressed through vision therapy.
As Dr. Cook clarifies, a child with perfect vision “can comfortably, continuously, and effortlessly see at all distances (including reading distance) without any blurring or doubling. He can accurately aim his eyes (and his attention) at anything he chooses to inspect. He can easily see how details are similar or different and use his eyes to direct his hands or other body motions. He can remember what he has seen in the past and picture what he would like to accomplish in the future.” I am so glad to know that there is hope for the kids who DON’T YET have perfect vision. This book is an invaluable resource for parents whose children are struggling to read or to learn.
The book’s concluding chapters are essentially an advertisement for this doctor’s specific vision therapy, and I didn’t love the gimmicky tone to these final pages, but it is helpful to know that there are resources available to families seeking vision help for their kiddos when all other options have proven ineffective.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (Rounded to 5 Stars on Goodreads) // Book Format: Print
September 6, 2020
I'm torn about how to rate this. The information on how the eyes work and how different systems might affect reading seemed reasonable, but I grew a bit suspicious when I saw that in every case the author does not actually say anything about how such issues might be resolved. Instead, it begins to feel like a sales pitch for visual therapy -- and apparently visual therapy is a panacea for reading delays, learning disabilities, lazy eye, and more. Any time we have a one-solution-to-all-problems pitch, my quackery detector goes off. I remember a former in-law telling me that chiropractics could treat not just back problems but hearing loss, asthma, and pretty much whatever ails you. Sure.
A bit of research on my own has confirmed that some science watchers consider the claims of visual therapy exaggerated and even unfounded. The science only seems to back up its effectiveness on a few problems.
So, instead of the three stars I was going to give this (for clarity and presentation, I read it through in one sitting) is dropped down to two and big red flag for that the last chapter, urging any and all to try visual therapy.
A bit of research on my own has confirmed that some science watchers consider the claims of visual therapy exaggerated and even unfounded. The science only seems to back up its effectiveness on a few problems.
So, instead of the three stars I was going to give this (for clarity and presentation, I read it through in one sitting) is dropped down to two and big red flag for that the last chapter, urging any and all to try visual therapy.
July 12, 2010
This book was very informative, but had a negative tone to it. Many sentences were along the lines of: Here are some assumptions parents make that ruin their children's lives.
I feel that the author should have acknowledged that many parents work hard with their child as he or she struggles with reading. And that they don't know any better than the child what is causing the problem. It could have had a positive, helpful tone instead of being accusatory.
I learned a great deal about how we see and how we process what we see. And, how that can not only effect reading, but behavior as well.
I feel that the author should have acknowledged that many parents work hard with their child as he or she struggles with reading. And that they don't know any better than the child what is causing the problem. It could have had a positive, helpful tone instead of being accusatory.
I learned a great deal about how we see and how we process what we see. And, how that can not only effect reading, but behavior as well.
February 10, 2011
A short book that could be helpful for teachers of students in the earlier grades I think (1st-4th). It's possible to find some of the symptoms in Kindergarten but he even says that is a bit young. It basically taught me about vision therapy, which I didn't know about before.
July 3, 2017
This book was interesting. It explains the why's behind eye sight issues and why just an eye exam is often not enough. I found it interesting in explaining how therapy can help, even as an adult, with reading issues.
July 17, 2013
Very eye opening (see what I did there!) about the limits of standard eye chart testing. Now I want to get my whole family tested !
October 23, 2015
This is a great resource for when you can't quite figure out why a child is struggling.
July 8, 2022
20/20 vision isn’t necessarily what it’s cracked up to be. This book does a great job of explaining other vision problems and what help for them looks like.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews