Vision Therapy

What is Vision Therapy?

Optometric vision therapy works to develop, improve, and enhance visual performance. Our behavioral optometrist is trained to develop a program tailored to individual needs.

What Conditions Does Vision Therapy Treat?

• BINOCULAR DYSFUNCTION: this includes eye-teaming disorders such as convergence insufficiency. Often times there are accommodative (eye focusing) and oculomotor (eye tracking) problems associated with this.
• CONCUSSION & BRAIN INJURY: this can come from a stroke or head trauma that significantly impacts visual skills and visual perception. Recovery can be a journey and involve a multidisciplinary approach (e.g. physical therapy, etc.).
• STRABISMUS: this is known as an "eye drift" or "eye turn" where the eyes do not align with each other, which causes poor depth perception or double vision.
• AMBLYOPIA: this occurs when the vision in one eye is significantly blurrier than the other. This is not caused by a disease of the eye structures, rather the connection between the eye and the brain is weak.

Learn Your Visual Skills

• EYE TEAMING (BINOCULARITY): the ability to use the eyes together to point in the same spot in order to see single vision and appreciate depth perception.
• EYE TRACKING (OCULOMOTOR): the ability to follow a moving target smoothly and accurately, or jump from the end of a line of text to the next.
• EYE FOCUSING (ACCOMMODATION): the ability to look quickly from near to far and vice versa with instant clarity, as well as maintaining clear vision for long periods of time.
• VISUAL PERCEPTION: the ability for the brain to organize and interpret visual information.

Difficulties with any of these visual skills can create a learning-related vision problem. This can happen even if you have 20/20 vision. Learning-related vision problems can impact a child's ability to read and succeed in school, or affect an adult's ability to efficiently complete their computer work.

• Signs That You May Benefit From Vision Therapy

  • Blurry vision or double vision when reading or at distance
  • Vision going in and out of focus
  • Short attention span
  • Headaches or eyestrain when reading
  • Slow reading speed
  • Loss of place when reading
  • Letters moving or floating off the page
  • Needing a finger to track when reading
  • Fidgety or restless with reading
  • Holding reading material very close
  • Poor reading comprehension
  • Covering an eye when reading
  • Head tilt
  • Excessive blinking
  • Poor eye-hand coordination
  Having 20/20 vision does not guarantee that there isn't a problem with your visual system.

How Does Vision Therapy Work?

1. We create a program from a variety of activities designed to build a strong visual foundation and improve awareness of what the eyes and body are doing.
2. Vision therapy is practiced weekly in-office or virtually usually on a weekly basis to provide feedback and enforce learning.
3. Home activities are given to be practiced 4-5 times per week - these are essential for improvement!
4. We load activities further along in the program by adding visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive demands. This helps strengthen and reinforce skills.
5. Skills become integrated into real life the more they are practiced and challenged in therapy so that they become second nature.