Background:

The first cause of school failure is learning disabilities. Diagnosis and treatment require a multidisciplinary approach in which it is important to rule out any ophthalmological condition that can interfere with the learning process. There is no data about it in Mexican population; therefore, it is important to evaluate the most common visual defects.

Purpose:

To describe ophthalmological findings in children with learning difficulties.

Method:

The following data was retrieved from a retrospective review of the medical records of children aged 5 to 16 years with learning difficulties who underwent through ophthalmic examination from January 2018 through January 2019. The records include the following variables: age, gender, visual acuity, ocular alignment, fusion, stereoacuity, near point of convergence, color vision, accommodative amplitude, cycloplegic refraction, slit lamp, fundus exam, and diagnosis.

Results:

Data of 69 children were included, their mean age was 9.3 years (± 3.5), 51 were men. Of the 69 children, 38 had an ophthalmic finding: 22 patients presented significant refractive error, 10 patients had accommodative insufficiency, 10 patients showed convergence insufficiency. Other diagnoses found were strabismus, amblyopia, allergic conjunctivitis, and color blindness.

Conclusions:

It is advisable that every child with learning difficulties should go for an exhaustive eye exam including accommodation and vergence tests to rule out any visual defects that can interfere with learning.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )