Reading Additions in Children and Young Adults with Low Vision – Effects on Reading Performance

ii AUTHOR'S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. iii Reading is one of the most important activities in most people’s life. For children, reading is a window to knowledge, good educational achievement and better job opportunities in the future. Thus reading fluency is a very important factor in the child’s education. Children and young adults with low vision usually use a close working distance to gain relative distance magnification. Unlike adults, they have active accommodation. Many studies, however, have shown that children and young adults with low vision have reduced accommodation response compared to the norms of their age. Reading additions (high plus lenses) can correct for this reduction in accommodation and may be an optimum method of prescribing magnification i