Eye Tracking Problems When Reading

"Eye tracking" usually refers to oculomotor skills: the eyes' ability to make accurate, controlled movements. That includes the small jumps (saccades) along a line of print and back to the start of the next line.

Signs parents often notice

• Losing place, skipping or rereading lines
• Skipping small words
• Needing a finger or marker to keep place (normal for beginners, worth noting in older kids)
• Moving the head instead of the eyes while reading
• Trouble copying from the board

Both can be true

These signs can come from an eye-movement problem, from an eye-teaming or focusing problem, or from reading difficulties such as dyslexia, where decoding itself is hard. They can also come from a combination. That's why it helps to look at both sides:

• A functional vision exam can evaluate eye movements, teaming, and focusing.
• An educational evaluation can look at decoding and other reading skills.

If an eye-movement problem is found, treatment addresses the vision problem. Reading instruction addresses reading skills. Many kids benefit from attention to both.

See also: Child skips lines or loses their place.