What is Vision Therapy?
Vision Therapy is an individualized, supervised, treatment program designed to correct visual-motor and/or perceptual-cognitive deficiencies. Sessions are personalized to address:
- Eye alignment
- Eye tracking and eye teaming
- Eye focusing abilities
- Eye movements
- Visual processing
Visual-motor skills and endurance are developed through the use of specialized computer and optical devices, such as therapeutic lenses, prisms, and filters. During the final stages of therapy, your newly acquired visual skills are reinforced and made automatic through repetition and integration with motor and cognitive skills.
Who benefits from vision therapy?
Vision therapy is designed for children and adults. You might seek visual rehabilitation if you have been diagnosed with any of the following conditions:
Learning-related vision problems. Vision Therapy can help those individuals who lack the necessary visual skills for effective reading, writing, and learning (i.e., eye movement and focusing skills, convergence, eye-hand activity, visual memory skills, etc.)
Dyslexia, ADD or ADHD. Sometimes, vision problems can result in a misdiagnosis of dyslexia, ADD, or ADHD. Seeking visual rehabilitation services can help the individual discern between a vision problem and a true diagnosis of one of these conditions. If an underlying vision problem is the culprit, rehabilitation can often improve vision and alleviate the resulting symptoms.
Developmental delays or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders experience visual and perceptual disturbances that can be addressed through rehabilitation services.
Poor Binocular Coordination. Vision Therapy helps individuals develop normal coordination and teamwork of the two eyes (binocular vision). When the two eyes fail to work together as an effective team, performance in many areas can suffer (reading, sports, depth perception, eye contact, etc.)
Convergence Insufficiency. Recent scientific research – funded by the National Eye Institute and conducted at Mayo Clinic – has proven that in-office Vision Therapy is the best treatment for Convergence Insufficiency.
Amblyopia (lazy eye), Diplopia (double vision), or Strabismus (crossed eyes, wandering eyes, eye turns). Vision Therapy programs offer much higher cure rates for turned eyes and/or lazy eye when compared to eye surgery, glasses, and/or patching, without therapy. Earlier Vision Therapy often yields better results; however, recent scientific research has disproven the long held belief that children with lazy eye, or amblyopia, can’t be helped after age 7.
Sports Vision Improvement. Strong visual skills are critical to success in sports. We can measure and successfully improve eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral vision, eye focusing, eye tracking and teaming, visualization skills, and more.
Vision therapy can be the answer to many common visual problems. Contact our office to discover whether vision therapy could help you.