Eight-Week Vision Training Program Helps Older Adults Read Better, Faster

An eight-week vision training program that concentrates on four specific skills used in reading can help older readers regain their skills, according to a new study.

Visual functioning and processing decline with age, according to Dr. Harold A. Solan, one of the researchers who conducted the study at the State University of New York College of Optometry.

As a result, older people use more effort to read and tire more easily. They also read more slowly.

The researchers looked at four areas of reading: how often the eyes pause when reading, how often the eyes take a second look, how many words the eyes recognize with each pause and how many words are read per minute with good reading comprehension.

They then developed a vision training program designed to decrease pauses and second looks while increasing the number of words recognized per pause and increasing reading speed. The program was administered on computers in 16 one-hour sessions over eight weeks.

The study was published in a recent issue of Optometry and Vision Science.