CARLSBAD — A Carlsbad optometrist received a patent earlier this spring for his method of correcting dyslexia and other reading disabilities.
Dyslexia is the leading learning disability in the United States, with about 20% of the population dealing with it. Professionals have been unable to find a cure for the disability until now, according to Dr. David Bloch.
Bloch, a local optometrist and dyslexia expert, discovered the key element that prevents those with dyslexia from reading properly and has created new super tools that quickly correct their reading abilities.
Reading requires auditory, visual and cognitive skills, and any issues with these skill sets can cause problems.
While traditional reading methods use a phonetic or auditory-based approach to teaching reading, research has shown that students with dyslexia have poor phonological awareness, leaving them unable to use sound patterns to learn how to read.
According to the doctor, he realized that students with dyslexia cannot match what they hear with what they see when interpreting text.
“It’s not about needing glasses – it’s about auditory and visual processing,” Bloch said.
Bloch’s Reading Without Limits program teaches the new patent-approved method. The program does not emphasize phonics, sight reading, picture books or verbal cues. Instead, Bloch uses a series of drills to reprogram how the brain stores and retrieves reading information.
These drills “break bad brain habits,” Bloch said, which allows an otherwise poor reader to properly process visual and auditory patterns.
According to Bloch, people with dyslexia face stigma from others who believe their inability to read is because they aren’t smart — but that isn’t the case.
“Students with dyslexia already have the necessary components to read in their head, they are just in the habit of filing the information incorrectly,” Bloch said.
According to Bloch, his students can advance to the same level as their spoken vocabulary in about three months.
After several years of waiting, Bloch finally received his patent for his method from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in May 2024. He is the first person to have a registered trademark in the category of consultation and treatment services for dyslexia under the name “Dyslexia Buster.”
Bloch earned his patent over 160 other patent citations already on file.
Bloch has several testimonials from the parents of his students who successfully went through the Reading Without Limits program.
“I was honestly at a standstill with my son,” writes Marianne in a testimonial for Bloch’s Reading Without Limits program. “We were at kindergarten reading levels even though he was in 2nd grade. His dyslexia was frustrating for him.”
According to Marianne, Bloch changed her son’s life.
“Within one month he was bringing me chapter books to read,” she writes.
Bloch hopes to help people struggling with dyslexia both locally and beyond. With his new patent, he also hopes to persuade people to trust an eye doctor like himself to help their children learn how to read.
“When I first started, I didn’t necessarily want to treat dyslexia – I just wanted to help kids to read,” Bloch said. “Now I have a passion and a cure.”
