should be continuously considered for improving the predictability of identifying children

at risk for RD as well as developing effective early intervention programs.

New Trends of Reading-Related Vision Research

 Compared to phonological awareness research, studies of reading-related visual

skills have a long history with three eras (Rayner, 1998). More than century ago,

Hinshelwood (1895) concluded that poor reading ability was probably due to impaired

visual memory for words and letters (as cited in Eden et al., 1995). Since his study,

research has been implemented vigorously. Recently, Rayner (1998) did an extensive

review of studies focusing on reading-related vision-especially eye movements. In his

review he recognized the trends of prior research and divided research studies from the

late 1890s up to the early 1990s into three eras. According to his review, the first era

extended from the late 1890s up until the 1920s. During this first era, the basic facts of

eye movements were discovered. These included saccadic suppression (i.e., do not

perceive any visual information during an eye movement), saccadic latency, and the size

of the perceptual span (Rayner, 1998). Findings from a variety of studies in the first era

were the foundation of eye-movement research. Contrary to the first era, the second era

(from 1920s until the mid-1970s) produced little research since researchers believed they

had learned almost everything on eye movements, given the technology at that time

(Rayner, 1998). However, the third era (since the late 1970s) is drawing a different

picture. An advanced technology led to an enormous amount of research being

implemented to investigate the possibility of a relationship between visual skills and

reading (Rayner, 1998). The technological improvement on measurements allowed vision

research to be more accurately and more easily implemented.