When Reading Gets Hard, It Might Be the Eyes, Not the Book
Children often don’t encounter standard-sized fonts (like Times New Roman 12-point) until third or fourth grade, since early elementary books usually use larger print. I was a student at the top of my class, but something had happened to me as soon as the fonts became smaller.
Some of my issues midway through elementary school included:
■ Falling asleep after 15 minutes of reading, particularly if I did not find the book meaningful, fun, or interesting;
■ Taking too long to read due to a combination of re-reading the same lines, eye strain, and headaches;
■ Never finishing any books as an elementary school kid except for Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix, and The Giver by Lois Lowry;
■ Feeling sad when adults said to me, “You’re really smart; you must read a lot!” because my options seemed like I could lie and nod my head at their belief, or explain that I hardly read at all and risk losing their compliment;
■ Being removed from music class for one day by a teacher who discovered that I was using alphabet letters to play music notes quickly instead of being able to distinguish which line the dots were sitting on in the sheet music book;
■ Repeated complaints from teachers about my print and script penmanship year after year (back when it was considered a graded subject in school);
■ Failing a standardized reading test, which I ran out of time to finish.
All of these signs pointed to something, but no one knew quite knew what. Finally, the teacher suggested that maybe I needed glasses to read because the school’s vision test only examined distance vision (such as whether students could read the eye chart on the wall from far away). I went to the optometrist, and I felt a lot better once I put reading glasses on my face for the first time. The following year, I was back to doing well in school. I went on to win school spelling bees and eventually be valedictorian by the end of elementary school. Once I had glasses, I discovered new talents to make up for lost time, like proofreading, foreign languages, calligraphy, and art.
Audiobooks and WhaZoodles Are Helpful Now
Luckily, today, we also have devices, such as audiobooks and WhaZoodles, to listen to stories, which were not available years ago. If I were a kid today, I think that I would have liked audiobooks because the narrator likely would have gone a lot faster than the pace at which my own mental narrator was able to read. WhaZoodles can also let kids enjoy stories without eye strain or frustration because they can use sound and their imagination.
Graphic Novels May Also Help
We classify graphic novels in the juvenile non-fiction 741.5 section, and we have a large number of them to choose from. If you ever wondered, 741.5 translates in English to “Drawing and drawings - Cartoons and caricatures.” Even though many graphic novels are fictional, they’re shelved in non-fiction because they are told through sequential art (what Dewey classifies as drawing, cartoons, and caricature).
Picture Book Recommendations for Reading Glasses
Most children’s books focus on getting glasses to see better in terms of distance vision; however, two books were recently added to our collection that I would recommend for reading glasses:
This is a biography that focuses on a key moment in George Washington’s life, when his use of reading glasses, and a humble explanation about needing them, helped to stop a group of upset, unpaid military officers from rebelling against Congress.
This book discusses using glasses for both distance and reading. Octavio also experiences the full range of his imagination once he can see and read well.
Other Books About Enjoying Life with Distance Glasses:
n By Amanda from Lawrence Headquarters
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