The Visual Skills Behind Reading: How Eye Teaming and Tracking Shape Your Child’s Success

Author: Hayley Martin

 

Not all reading struggles start with the mind, some begin with the eyes.

But not in the way most parents think.

Your child might pass a school vision screening and still find reading frustrating, exhausting, or confusing. That’s because perfect vision on a chart doesn't test how well the eyes work together, move across a page, or focus up close. These behind-the-scenes abilities, like eye teaming, tracking, focusing, and visual processing, are part of a magical system called functional vision. When even one piece is out of sync, the entire reading experience can feel like trying to run in shoes that don’t fit.

If your child struggles with reading, loses their place, or avoids books altogether, the root of the problem might not be motivation. It might be vision.

Let’s take a closer look.

 

What Is Eye Teaming?

Eye teaming is the ability to use both eyes together, in perfect harmony, to look at the same place at the same time. When eye teaming is strong, words stay clear and single. But when it's weak, the eyes fight to stay aligned, causing blur, double vision, or visual confusion.

For a young reader, that might feel like the words are wiggling or floating. It’s no wonder they start to dread reading time.

A clue from the outside: If your child covers one eye while reading, turns their head, or squints, this might be their way of trying to keep the page in focus.

 

What Is Eye Tracking?

Eye tracking is the ability to move the eyes smoothly from word to word, and line to line, without losing place. Strong tracking skills help a child follow sentences fluidly, making reading feel natural and enjoyable.

When tracking is poor, a child may:

• Skip words or entire lines
• Lose their place constantly
• Reread the same line
• Use a finger to guide their reading (even at older ages)

It’s not laziness. It’s not a lack of focus. It’s the eyes struggling to do something they are not used to doing but is necessary for reading.  That said, her eyes can absolutely learn to work together.

Other Visual Skills That Support Reading

Reading requires more than just seeing clearly. These lesser-known, but essential, skills help your child decode the page with ease:

• Accommodation (Focusing Flexibility): Helps the eyes focus at near and shift quickly between distances (like from book to white board and back again). Weakness here can cause blurry text or eye fatigue.
• Convergence: A special kind of eye teaming, convergence allows both eyes to turn inward and stay focused on the same point up close. If your child has convergence insufficiency, reading may lead to headaches, tired eyes, and frustration.
• Visual Processing & Memory: Involves recognizing letters, remembering what was just read, and making sense of symbols. When this skill lags, comprehension and fluency often lag, too.

 

Signs Your Child May Have a Functional Vision Issue

Keep an eye out for these clues, especially if your child is struggling in school or avoids reading:

• Skipping words or lines when reading
• Losing their place on the page
• Complaining of headaches or tired eyes
• Words looking blurry or like they’re “moving”
• Short attention span for close-up work
• Tilting their head or turning the page to one side
• Avoiding books or seeming anxious during reading time
• Difficulty copying from the board
• Slow, choppy reading with poor comprehension

These signs don’t mean your child isn’t trying. In fact, they often point to a child working extra hard just to keep up.  Let's pause and think about this.  She's not lazy, distracted or unmotivated at all.  She's working harder than everyone in her class just to be at her current level.

Why School Screenings Often Miss These Issues

Most school screenings only check distance clarity. But reading requires far more: smooth tracking, precise teaming, flexible focusing, and efficient processing.  A child can have 20/20 vision but lack functional vision, the skills needed to read and keep up at school.

That’s why many children pass their vision checks yet still struggle with reading. To truly understand what’s going on, a comprehensive eye exam, preferably with a developmental or behavioral optometrist, is essential.

These doctors don’t just check how clearly a child can see; they test how the eyes work together to support learning and attention.

Treatment: The Gentle Magic of Vision Therapy

If your child is diagnosed with an eye teaming or tracking issue, there’s hope.  And there's help.

Vision therapy is like physical therapy for the eyes and brain. Through fun, game-like exercises, children build the visual coordination and endurance they need for reading success. Therapy is customized, gentle, and, most importantly, life changing.

Many parents say that after therapy, their once-frustrated reader begins to enjoy books, finishes homework faster, and gains confidence across subjects.

It’s not that she doesn't want to read, it’s that her eyes might be making it almost impossible.

A Final Word of Encouragement

If you’ve noticed your child struggling to keep up with reading, or if they’ve started to believe they’re just “not good at it”, know this:

The problem might not be effort. It might be vision.

And the solution is often simple, gentle, and wonderfully effective.

At Once Upon a Charm, we believe every child deserves to feel confident and capable, with glasses that spark joy and with vision that supports every chapter of their story.