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What is Optometric Vision Therapy?
Optometric Vision Therapy is an individual program of treatment designed to improve visual function and performance. Its proven results are derived from vision based neurological and neuromuscular conditioning. It is a treatment modality for disorders including, but not limited to:
Strabismus (eye turns in or out)
Amblyopia (lazy eye)
Vergence Dysfunction (inability to align the eyes in or out together)
Ocular Motor Dysfunction (eye tracking and aiming skills)
Accommodative Disorders (focusing problems)
Visual Information Processing Disorders
Visual Sensory and Motor Integration
Visual Rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury
One can learn to use vision more effectively with lenses, prisms, filters, electronic targets with timing mechanism, optical instruments, and specialized medical equipment for feedback to effectively enable visual skills to become automatic in the patient.
The main benefits of optometric vision therapy include improved visual information processing and improved ability to sustain visual function over time. The American Optometric Association found that 35-40% of all children with learning disabilities have visual problems. At least 20% of children with learning disabilities have significant visual processing problems and 15-20% of them lack visual efficiency skills.
Vision Therapy relieves eye strain, visually induced headaches, inability to concentrate with near visual tasks and reduces loss of place, reversals and complaints of moving print when reading or writing. Optometric vision therapy also improves visual development and is part of a multi disciplinary effort following stroke or head injury.
Signs and symptoms to look for when suspecting a vision problem
Physical signs or symptoms:
- Frequent eye strain or visually-related headaches
- Blurring at distance or near
- Avoidance of close visually demanding tasks
- Poor depth perception
- Misalignment of the eyes
- Tendency to cover or close one eye
- Double vision
- Poor eye-hand coordination
- Difficulty tracking
- Dizziness
Performance problems:
- Frequent loss of place when reading
- Poor reading comprehension
- Difficulty changing focus from distance to near and vice versa.
- Poor posture with near visual tasks
- Poor handwriting
- Letter or word reversals
- Difficulty judging sizes and shapes
- Can respond orally but cannot translate information to paper.
ADD/ADHD and Vision Problems:
Vision problems that are untreated can elicit the same symptoms that are commonly associated with ADHD. Recent research at the Children's Eye Center at the University of San Diego showed that children with Convergence Insufficiency (inability to align the eyes inward for prolonged periods) are three times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children without the disorder. Doctor Granet commented, "We don't know if Convergence Insufficiency makes ADHD worse or if Convergence Insufficiency is misdiagnosed as ADHD. What we do know is more research must be done on the subject and that patients diagnosed with ADHD should also be evaluated for Convergence Insufficiency and treated accordingly.
25% of children may have a learning related vision problem. One study showed that 13% of children between 9 and 13 years of age suffer from moderate to marked Convergence Insufficiency.
What are learning-related visual problems that can have a significant impact on learning?
- Poor eye tracking skills
- Poor eye teaming skills
- Poor ability to simultaneously blend images from both eyes into one.
- Poor focusing skills
- Poor eye hand coordination
- Poor visual memory, visual form perception and visualization
Are 3-D movies or video games harmful?
BBC News (9/30/11) reported a study of the impact of 3D in the classroom has found that it improves test results by an average of 17%. The research conducted in 7 schools across Europe found that the 3D helped children concentrate more.
In order to see in 3D, one must align and focus both eyes on an object and then combine the visual images into one clear and single 3 dimensional image. The ability to see in 3D is more sensitive than the standard eye chart that we have used for the past 150 years because 3D viewing requires both eyes to work together as they converge, focus, and track the 3D image. For the 1 in 4 children that may have underlying issues, lack of 3D perception can help identify these undetected problems.
The American Optometric Association recommends knowing the 3 D's of stereoscopic 3D viewing:
Discomfort:
- Since 3D viewing is based on the eyes converging in front of or beyond the screen, viewing 3D images can potentially create eye strain and headaches. Consumers can reduce the conflict by sitting at a greater distance from the screen.
D izziness:
- 3D technology can exaggerate visual motion hypersensitivity (VMH) which can cause motion sickness and vergence accommodation
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