The King-Devick Test is an established eye movement test that has been used historically to detect reading disorders related to poor visual-motor skills. Seventeen students in grades 2-4 from the St. Elizabeth School in Chicago Illinois, a predominantly African American K-8 school, were screened for reading inefficiency using the King-Devick Test (K-D Test) and assessed in reading fluency using the Scholastic Fluency Test pre- and post-treatment. The control group had a mean-word improvement of 13.11 words as compared to a 30.02 mean word improvement in the treatment group (p = 0.0413). A Sub-group analysis of grades 2 and 3 showed a mean word improvement of 31.94 among the treatment group as compared to 13.11 for the placebo group (p = 0.0267). Reading fluency measures significantly improved following eye movement training.

Summary Points:

  • Reading fluency significantly improved following 6 weeks of the King-Devick Reading Acceleration Program for 2nd and 3rd grade
  • Fourth grade student reading performance improved somewhat, however the improvement was not as drastic as seen for 2nd and 3rd grade students, indicating there is likely an optimal time frame to implement the eye movement training.
  • Eye movement training programs should be considered as a part of reading curricula in