Some children can read — for about five minutes.
Then they lose their place.
The text starts to blur together.
They become tired, restless, or avoid reading altogether.
This is often not about motivation.
And far from always about intelligence.
Reading is precision work for the eyes
Reading is one of the most demanding tasks the eyes and brain perform together.
When a child reads, the eyes must:
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work together precisely
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focus at close range
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keep the image stable
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move in a controlled way from word to word
If any part of this doesn’t function well enough, reading quickly becomes exhausting — even if the child can read.
This is what many people don’t know
A child can:
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have passed the school vision screening
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see the board without problems
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have “normal vision”
and still struggle significantly with reading.
Why?
Because vision screenings often focus on visual acuity and whether the eyes can see clearly at a distance of a few meters.
What is rarely assessed is how well the two eyes work together and how long they can maintain that cooperation during sustained reading.
Reading also happens at close range — often 30–40 cm from the eyes — for extended periods of time.
That is a completely different visual demand than seeing clearly at a distance.
Near vision and eye coordination develop at different rates
Research on children aged 5–6 shows that:
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many children see well at a distance
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but have less mature visual skills at near range
The visual system is therefore still developing when the demands of reading increase sharply at school.
This has been shown, among other research, in studies by Professor Emerita Gunvor B. Wilhelmsen, who examined children’s visual prerequisites at school entry and how they relate to early reading demands.
For some children, the system is simply not yet ready for prolonged precision work.
How does this show up in everyday life?
Children rarely say that things look blurry.
They assume everyone experiences reading the same way.
Instead, it may show up as the child:
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losing their place in the text
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skipping lines or words
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getting tired quickly when reading
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complaining of headaches or eye strain
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avoiding books
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losing focus or becoming restless
This is often interpreted as attention difficulties.
But it may in fact be visual overload.
This is not a sign of lack of ability
It’s important to be clear:
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Children who struggle with reading due to visual coordination are not lazy.
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They are not less intelligent.
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And they are not lacking motivation.
Just as language, motor skills, and attention develop at different rates, so does the fine motor control of the visual system.
When expectations and development don’t match
When school begins, demands increase quickly:
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longer periods of near work
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fewer breaks
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more sitting still
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higher expectations
For children whose visual systems aren’t ready yet, reading becomes something that requires constant effort.
And children are very good at avoiding things that hurt.
What does this mean for you as an adult?
Understanding reading as a visual skill, not just a linguistic one, changes perspective.
It helps us to:
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interpret children’s behavior more fairly
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identify difficulties earlier
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reduce unnecessary stress and self-doubt
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provide the right support at the right time
That’s why Imvi exists
Imvi is built on this very insight:
that many children don’t struggle with learning — they lack the visual prerequisites to sustain reading.
Through engaging, digital vision training, Imvi trains eye coordination and visual endurance in a way adapted to the school environment. The training happens without books, without performance pressure, and without requiring the child to struggle with reading in order to improve their prerequisites.
The goal is not to replace teaching or reading practice.
The goal is to remove an invisible barrier.
When visual coordination works better, reading becomes less exhausting.
And when reading no longer hurts, more children dare to stay with the text.
That’s where Imvi makes a difference.
