Does My Child Have ADHD, Dyslexia, or a Vision Problem?

Understanding the Overlap—and the One Evaluation That Often Gets Missed

“He’s smart—but he just can’t focus.” “She’s constantly guessing at words.” “Homework takes forever, and everyone ends up in tears.”

If you’re a parent asking yourself whether your child has ADHD, dyslexia, or something else, you’re not alone. Many families spend years seeking answers, cycling through tutors, diagnoses, medications, and well-meaning advice, yet still feel like they’re missing a piece of the puzzle.

Here’s what you should know: vision problems can mimic, and often coexist with, ADHD and dyslexia. And if you don’t test for them, you might never find the true cause of your child’s struggles.

Let’s break it down.

ADHD, Dyslexia, or Vision? Why It’s So Hard to Tell

The symptoms of these three issues often look very similar on the surface.
 

It’s easy to see how a child with a vision-based learning problem might be mistaken for having ADHD or dyslexia. In fact, many kids are misdiagnosed, or receive only partial treatment, because their visual system was never fully evaluated.

What Most Parents Don’t Know About Vision

A routine eye exam checks whether your child can see clearly, usually with a standard eye chart. But it doesn't test how well your child’s eyes work together, track across a page, or process visual information.

In other words: your child can have 20/20 eyesight and still have a serious functional vision problem.

Functional vision refers to the brain-eye coordination skills that support reading, attention, and learning. These include:

• Eye teaming (both eyes working together)

• Eye tracking (smooth, accurate movement across a page)

• Eye focusing (shifting quickly and accurately between distances)

• Visual memory (recalling what was just seen)

• Visual-motor integration (copying from the board, handwriting, coordination)

When these skills aren’t strong or synchronized, reading becomes exhausting. Concentration breaks down. Behavior follows.

“But We’ve Already Tried Tutoring and ADHD Medication…”

That’s exactly why this blog post matters.

If your child has tried:

• ADHD medication but still can’t focus to read

• Reading tutoring with little or slow progress

• Multiple educational or psychological evaluations…

…and you still feel like something is being missed, it’s time to look at the visual system.

In our clinic, we often see kids who were labeled as “lazy,” “unmotivated,” or “just not a strong reader”—when in reality, their eyes and brain weren’t working together efficiently.

Once those visual skills are improved through a program of vision therapy, things begin to change.

Real-Life Example: When “ADHD” Was Actually a Vision Issue

Take 9-year-old Max. He had a hard time sitting still, avoided reading, and often left assignments unfinished. His teachers suspected ADHD, and his parents tried medication, but it didn’t make much difference.

Eventually, Max’s parents found us through a friend of theirs who had the same problems as Max, and we tested Max’s functional vision skills and found that he had significant eye teaming and tracking issues.

Max started vision therapy. Within a few months, he was reading more smoothly, had fewer headaches, and was able to stay focused on tasks longer, without a change in medication.

Vision Problems Can Coexist With ADHD or Dyslexia

To be clear: not every child’s struggles are caused only by vision problems.

Some kids do have ADHD. Some do have dyslexia. But here’s the key:

Even when ADHD or dyslexia are real, undiagnosed vision problems can make them worse.

Treating the visual system doesn’t mean ignoring other needs—it means removing a major source of stress and visual overload, so your child has a better chance to thrive.

How to Know If It’s Time to Look at Vision

Ask yourself:

• Does my child get frustrated with reading—even if they’re trying hard?

• Do they avoid books, lose their place, or mix up small words?

• Do they seem to “zone out” during homework?

• Has their progress plateaued, even with tutoring or support?

• Do they complain of tired eyes, double vision, or motion sensitivity?

If you answered yes to even one of these, a functional vision evaluation could be the missing link.

What’s a Functional Vision Evaluation?

Unlike a regular eye exam, this in-depth assessment looks at how your child’s visual system functions during reading, learning, and real-life tasks. It checks:

• Eye teaming, tracking, and focusing

• Visual perceptual skills

• Visual-vestibular coordination

• The brain’s ability to process and organize visual input

It gives us a complete picture—not just of what your child sees, but how they use their eyes to learn.

The Bottom Line

If your child is bright but struggling, if they’ve tried medication or tutoring with little success, if you’ve ever felt like something is being missed, don’t overlook Vision, and I do not mean their eyesight.

A hidden vision problem may be at the root—or it may be one of several overlapping challenges. Either way, it’s worth investigating.

You don’t have to keep guessing. We’re here to help.