A Born in Bradford research project is under way to discover the impact of sight problems in young children on their reading ability.

The £280,000 Department of Health-backed study is funding Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ head orthoptist Alison Bruce along with researchers at the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) and York University to examine the literacy skills of four and five-year-olds across Bradford.

Previous studies in Bradford have shown 14 per cent of schoolchildren needed glasses and three to five per cent of them had squints.

The new research project, which started this month, is now comparing and contrasting children’s eye tests against their literacy levels during their reception year and again when they move up to year one.

Over the next four years it also hopes to find out why 31 per cent of children diagnosed between the ages of four and five with squints or needing glasses through the city’s well-established national vision screening programme fail to attend follow-up eye service appointments for treatment.

Dr Bruce said: "Reading is an essential daily living skill, yet there have been few studies examining the impact of lazy eye on reading ability, despite reading being the key skill taught to children when they start school.

“It is therefore vital to know if the essential recognition skills required for reading are affected by the presence of lazy eye.

“Coverage of the screening programme across the city is high with 97 per cent of reception children having their sight tested, but early detection is only effective if those students identified with poor sight are treated appropriately.

“Yet 31 per cent fail to attend follow-up appointments and so we know that there are a high proportion of children out there with identified needs who are not accessing our specialist eye services or gaining appropriate treatment.”

The results of the research will also form part of a review and evaluation of alternative models of providing services in Bradford.

Children currently identified as having poor vision at school screening tests are either referred to a local optometrist or to the hospital’s eye service.

Professor John Wright, BIHR director, said: “The great thing about this research is that it will lead to real improvements in managing poor vision in children. “Alison's investigations will help in our understanding of the causes of poor vision, and its impact on education, but more importantly it will directly shape how health services can be redesigned to improve vision care.”

The findings from Dr Bruce’s study will be published in national and international medical journals and could help shape both national and local policy on vision screening and children’s eye services.