What is Vision Therapy?

Vision therapy is a treatment program prescribed to improve conditions like crossed eyes (“strabismus”) or lazy eye (“amblyopia”) and to help persons learn, relearn, or reinforce specific skills, including eye movement control, focusing control, eye coordination, and teamwork of the two eyes—all required skills for reading. Vision therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for many problems that cannot be adequately treated with eyeglasses or contact lenses alone. It can help people see more clearly, efficiently, and comfortably.

Vision therapy is customized and specific

The activities and eye exercises prescribed as part of a vision therapy program individualized to fit the visual needs of each patient. Vision therapy is performed under doctor supervision and is generally conducted in-office, in once or twice weekly sessions of 30 minutes to an hour, and supplemented with procedures done at home between office visits.

What are general symptoms or problems that may require vision therapy?

Individually or in combination: frequent headaches; intermittent blurring of vision; discomfort and fatigue following use of the eyes; either or both eyes turning in or out; a tendency to use one eye more than the other; poor performance in school or in sports; difficulty in reading, writing, or other close work; and poor memory and comprehension can indicate problems that can be improved by vision therapy.

Vision therapy and learning disabilities

Vision therapy does not correct learning disabilities. However, children with learning disabilities often have vision problems as well. Vision therapy can correct underlying vision problems that may be contributing to a child’s learning problems. Often, vision therapy can be a helpful component of a multidisciplinary approach to remediating learning problems.

How does Vision Therapy work?

As with many physical skills, like walking, people learn and develop most visual perceptual skills. Since these skills are learned and developed, they can generally be improved through vision therapy. In vision therapy, the optometrist prescribes visual tasks to be practiced under controlled conditions. Repetition of these tasks improves vision by coordinating eye muscles, straightening the alignment of the eyes, improving eye movement, eye coordination and focusing ability.

Is age a barrier?

No. Depending on the condition, vision therapy can help persons of all ages.

What are some Vision Therapy procedures?

Vision therapy may include the use of lenses, prisms, and filters to improve eye teaming and/or focusing ability, and the use of optical instruments like the stereoscope (similar to a 3-D viewer) for various eye coordination activities.

www.bernell.com

How successful is Vision Therapy?

As in any therapy program, success is not guaranteed. Much of the improvement depends on the patient’s willingness to follow the optometrist and vision therapists’ instructions. For patients who do, significant progress toward more efficient and comfortable seeing usually results.

How long does Vision Therapy take?

Vision therapy programs may take from a few months to several years depending on the severity of the condition, the length of time that it has been present, and the rate of improvement.

Does Vision Therapy involve other professionals from related fields?

Frequently vision therapy involves other experts, particularly when visual problems cause children to do poorly in school. These cases often involve cooperation between the optometrist, psychologist, teacher, and other professionals.