Vision Therapy Clinic

What is Vision Therapy?

 Vision therapy” is a term used by optometrists. Optometrists define vision therapy as an attempt to develop or improve visual skills and abilities; improve visual comfort, ease, and efficiency; and change visual processing or interpretation of visual information.

 
Who Benefits from Vision Therapy?

Children and adults with visual challenges, such as:

-  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 movements, eye-hand coordination, visual processing skills, etc.)

-    Poor Binocular Vision (eye-teaming) or Accommodation (eye-focusing) 

Vision therapy helps individuals develop normal coordination and teamwork of the two eyes, as well as, accuracy and efficiency of the focusing system. 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.).

-    Strabismus (eye turns) and Amblyopia (lazy eye)

Vision therapy offers an excellent and frequently preferable alternative to surgery for eye turns in many cases.

-    Stress-Induced Visual Difficulties

 Children and adults constantly use their near vision at school, work, and at home. Computer vision syndrome is one of the fastest-growing health concerns in the workplace today and compounded with increased use of computers in school. Environmental stresses on the visual system (including excessive computer use or close work) can induce eyestrain, headaches, and/or visual difficulties which can be effectively treated with corrective lenses and/or vision therapy.

-    Visual Rehabilitation for Special Populations/Brain Injury

Vision can be compromised as a result of neurological disorders or trauma to the nervous system (such as traumatic brain injuries, including concussion, stroke, whiplash, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc.). Vision therapy can effectively rehabilitate the visual consequences of these conditions.

-    Sports Vision Enhancement

Strong visual skills are critical to sports success. Not much happens in sports until your eyes instruct your hands, feet, and body what to do! Accurate vision and athletic visual skills can be measured, developed, and enhanced through vision therapy. We can measure and successfully improve eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral awareness, eye teaming, focusing, tracking, and visualization skills
 

Symptoms  

         
- Double vision 

-Difficulty reading

-Poor classroom performance

-Difficulty staying focused/poor attention

-Strabismus (an eye turn)

-Frequently eye rubbing

-Blurry vision after reading

-Letter or number reversals

-Holds things too close to the face

Confuses left and right

-Poor sports performance

-Amblyopia (lazy eye)

-Poor hand-eye coordination

-Constant squinting/head tilting

-Using fingers to read Frequently losing place or leaves out words when reading

-Favors one eye over the other

-Poor handwriting

-Headaches or fatigue after reading or computer work

 Procedure of Vision Therapy: Vision therapy consists of a sequence of activities that make use of lenses, prisms, filters, occlusion, and other equipment aimed at developing visual skills and processing. Vision therapy employs the use of a variety of techniques and procedures that includes gross and fine motor activities, eye-hand coordination in free-space, computer-based programs, and even virtual reality.

 Vision therapy consists of a weekly 45-minute in-office appointment. Home support, consisting of 1 to 2 activities is expected to be completed several times per week. The vision therapy program can range from 3 to 9 months, depending on the diagnosis and patient compliance. Progress is checked every few weeks and the vision therapy program is adjusted as necessary. Once the vision therapy program is completed, the patient is monitored regularly.

How often should you do vision therapy?

Vision therapy involves a series of exercises to improve the connection between your eyes and brain. How often do you have to train your eyes? It is recommended that you train your eyes one to two times a week, depending on your specific needs.