Did you know that up to 80% of learning is visual and that 1 in 10 children has a vision problem significant enough to impact learning? Yet most children with vision problems don’t know that they have one! Since they don’t know that the vision they are experiencing is abnormal, they aren’t able to express that they need help. Furthermore, many vision screenings and routine exams only check eyesight and don’t check for important functional vision skills like tracking, teaming, and focusing which must be developed and learned in childhood much like motor skills and speech. A child can have 20/20 eyesight, but lack the visual skills necessary to keep their place when reading, understand what they read, change focus from the board to their desk and back, maintain attention or concentration, catch or hit a ball, and more. When these visual skills are not developed, tasks such as reading, writing, and spelling become unnecessarily difficult and exhausting, leading to big frustrations for the child and the whole family. Much like physical therapy or speech therapy, we can retrain these learned aspects of vision with vision therapy. If your child has been diagnosed with a reading or learning difficulty or is just not reaching their potential at school or on the sports field, a comprehensive vision evaluation will determine if vision therapy can help them thrive in school and beyond.
What is Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy is a custom program of vision procedures that helps patients to:

  • Develop or improve fundamental visual skills and abilities (tracking, teaming, focusing, peripheral awareness and more)
  • Improve visual comfort, ease, and efficiency
  • Improve the processing of visual information

Our vision therapy consists of individualized procedures using therapeutic lenses, prisms, filters, occluders, and a variety of specialized tools and instrumentation to enhance the brain’s ability to effectively and efficiently gather and process visual information necessary for learning, attention, sports, and life. Our therapy is personalized and goal based, and we are committed to improving every child’s visual function and performance to meet their goals.

Vision therapy typically consists of a weekly in-office session coupled with home activities to reinforce newly learned skills. A typical vision therapy program lasts 6-9 months, but some can take more or less time depending on the patient and their visual conditions. Every child learns and develops at a different pace. We track each patient with routine progress evaluations every 10-12 weeks to keep our patients motivated and to evaluate their skill development and progress toward goals.

Who Needs Vision Therapy?
Does your child have any of the following symptoms? If so, vision therapy might be the solution you are looking for to help them unlock their full potential.

  • Poor reading comprehension
  • Able to read for only a short period of time
  • Sees double at times
  • Rubs eyes or closes or covers one eye when reading, writing, or watching TV
  • Moves head excessively when reading
  • Frequently loses place or skips words and lines when reading
  • Uses finger to keep place when reading
  • Holds things very close or tilts head
  • Reports blur or vision coming in and out of focus
  • Gets tired eyes or headaches when reading or with schoolwork
  • Avoids reading or prefers when someone else reads aloud to them
  • Trouble learning right and left
  • Reverses letters, numbers, and words
  • Mistakes words with similar beginnings
  • Poor recall of visually presented material
  • Can’t stay on lines when writing
  • Poor copying skills
  • Misaligns digits in math
What Conditions Does Vision Therapy Treat?

  • Patients of any age with eye-teaming problems such as convergence insufficiency, strabismus (eye turn), or amblyopia (“lazy” eye)
  • Children who struggle with learning due to delays or disruption in visual development (including strabismus, amblyopia, eye tracking, teaming, or focusing disorders, or visual processing delays)
  • Patients of any age with reduced visual processing ability, whether developmental or acquired (i.e. concussion, stroke, or progressive neurological conditions)
  • Adults with decompensating visual skills (double vision, headaches, motion sensitivity, eye strain with computer use)
How does it work?
Vision therapy activities typically have several levels. We may be working to improve multiple visual skills (like visual attention and eye teaming) at different levels in a given session.

  1. Gain Awareness – Learn what the eyes and body are doing.
  2. Improve Skill – Understand and execute using your eyes and vision in a more efficient manner.
  3. Load Skill – Use new techniques under pressure including with additional visual, auditory, motor or cognitive processing demands.
  4. Apply and Integrate – Apply this new way of using the eyes, brain, and body in real life in school, work, athletics, and life.