Wellington Hospital paediatric optometrist Natalie Beardsworth has developed a child-friendly reading chart, filling a gap in optometrists’ vision-testing toolkit for children.
Since most reading charts contain difficult vocabulary, Beardsworth decided to design her own to better assess children with reading difficulties, possibly linked to vision. “It has become clear to me over the last few years that a child already struggling with reading is going to find it impossible to read the adult vocabulary on existing charts,” she said.
The only alternative chart Beardsworth had come across had Thomas the Tank Engine text, which is not only dated but designed for adults to read to children. “Giving children this ancient-looking thing with some really big words, you can see how they just kind of give up, whether they can actually see the text or not. So you just end up bypassing this part of the test altogether.”
Having used her new chart for about 12 months in both public and private practice, Beardsworth said it has made testing children’s vision easier. “The beauty with using simple vocabulary is that it’s very easy for them to read and if they are struggling, you can give them a little bit of magnification and, all of a sudden, they start reading fluently. It’s really nice to see and reassuring for the parents too, who are in the room during the test.”
