Font size can have a direct impact on a kid’s grades without the child in question even realizing that that is the problem.
How do I know?
It happened to me.
When I was in 7th grade, school budgets were cut. This is nothing new, school budgets are always being cut. However, for whatever reason, in 7th grade, the budget cuts resulted in a school-wide ban on using a full sheet of paper for anything. All assignments, readings, quizzes, tests, etc. had to be printed landscape, with two pages of words on one page of paper.
Being 12, I didn’t find anything particularly wrong with this and just went with it. It was just how things were.
Fast forward to our math unit on the quadratic formula. I was in pre-algebra and honestly not doing that well. We had a quiz every Friday and my scores were regularly in the 70’s. My parents didn’t understand it. They saw me doing my homework (from a textbook onto my own sheet of paper) and knew I was doing it correctly, so the quiz scores confused them.
Then they saw a quiz. They saw how tiny it was. They threw a fit with the school. They demanded I get regular-sized paper with a font of at least 14 pts. They got medical paperwork for the accommodation from my eye doctor.
I was so embarrassed.
But do you know what happened?
My quiz grades immediately soared into the 90’s. No other changes.
All they did was make the font bigger.
Because of my accommodative dysfunction, my brain was trying so hard to read the quiz, that it wasn’t leaving enough room or time to appropriately take the quiz. But by making the font bigger, my eyes didn’t have to work as hard, and I was able to take my quiz unhindered.
The important thing here is I didn’t even know this was happening. I could not tell that my brain was having difficulty reading the questions.
My parents knew, and they advocated for me.
But the only reason they knew to do that, was because they were fully informed about my diagnosis and knew what to look for.
So, whether your child has accommodative dysfunction, another eye disorder, or another disorder altogether, try and figure out as much as you can on their behalf and reach out to experts wherever possible to maximize your ability to recognize their struggles and help your kids succeed.
If you have any questions for the OptoOrg team, we are available by email 24/7 at info@optoorg.com.