Photo of Prof. Deborah Giaschi, Distinguished Speaker of the lecture (right) and Dr Allen Cheong, moderator of the talk (left).
Prof. Giaschi suggested that eye care professionals could detect visual impairment that may interfere with reading, such as amblyopia and strabismus.
Prof. Giaschi explained that genetic disorder is one of the causes of dyslexia.
The RCSV and SO 45th Anniversary Joint Distinguished Lecture on “Insights from visual neuroscience on developmental dyslexia” by Prof. Deborah Giaschi was held on 23 March 2023. It attracted approximately 140 online registrants, including optometrists, practitioners, academic staff and students from 10 countries and regions.
Prof. Deborah Giaschi is a Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Canada. The lecture was moderated by Dr Allen Cheong, a member of the Research Centre for SHARP Vision, Associate Professor of the School of Optometry, PolyU.
Prof. Giaschi shared about developmental dyslexia, a condition that affects 5-15% of school-aged children and is more commonly diagnosed in boys than girls due to referral bias. During the lecture, Prof. Giaschi discussed the methods of diagnosing dyslexia, including eye care professionals’ ability to detect visual impairments such as amblyopia and strabismus that might interfere with reading. The reading ability in children with amblyopia or strabismus was underperformed. She also explained the theories on the causes of dyslexia and the current treatment approaches.
Prof. Giaschi then shared the research outcome from her lab, which revealed that an intensive, individualized school-based reading program improved students’ reading skills. Finally, she pointed out that orthographic dyslexia is less common in languages with transparent orthographies, like Spanish. Some functional MRI evidence suggested dyslexia in Chinese readers involves co-existing phonological and visuospatial processing disorders.
The Q&A session was well-received by the audience, who asked insightful questions. Overall, the distinguished lecture was a great success and received positive feedback from all participants.
