Vision Therapy Frequently Asked Questions
Optometric Vision Therapy is physical therapy for your visual system and teaches your eyes and brain to work together as a team. Our highly trained doctors and vision therapy specialists use a proven, individually tailored approach to introduce, improve, and reinforce functional vision skills like tracking, teaming, focusing, and visual processing. Vision Therapy is one of the best investments you can make in your child's future – results are invaluable and lasting.
Sight is simply the ability to see clearly, such as 20/20. “Vision” includes sight but encompasses much more. Vision is the intake of information through the eyes, the processing by the brain, and the individual’s response to that information.
Any interference along the visual pathway that causes “vision” to be ineffective or inefficient. Vision problems interfere with one’s ability to read, learn, comprehend, and pay attention. This negatively affects performance at school, work, and play.
Vision Therapy is a customized program to improve visual skills like eye tracking, focusing, eye teaming, and visual processing. It often includes techniques, eye exercises, and the use of specialized tools, and it is performed under the guidance of a behavioral optometrist. Vision Therapy benefits individuals experiencing vision-related issues that affect reading, learning, sports performance, or daily activities.
Vision Therapy addresses a range of visual issues in children and adults, including:
- Binocular vision problems
- Strabismus (crossed eyes)
- Amblyopia (lazy eye)
- Convergence insufficiency
- Visual processing disorders
- Poor eye-hand coordination
- Eye alignment issues
- Visual tracking and focusing difficulties
- Visual perceptual problems that impact reading and comprehension
- Traumatic brain injury and stroke
- Learning struggles
- Negative behaviors due to vision problem
The length of Vision Therapy varies depending on the individual and the complexity of their visual issues. Most programs last between two to ten months, though complex cases may last longer.
The benefits of vision therapy are life-changing and last forever. Vision Therapy is proven effective in improving visual skills and addressing issues affecting daily functioning in children and adults.
The Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) and numerous other research studies highlight the effectiveness of in-office vision therapy in treating visual processing disorders, reading and learning issues, and boosting neuro rehab outcomes.
Vision therapy is performed globally to treat vision disorders. Many studies demonstrate the proven benefits of in-office vision therapy, including double-blind trials. In fact, according to several National Eye Institute (NEI) studies, vision therapy is the most effective treatment for binocular vision, convergence insufficiency, lazy eye (amblyopia), and eye turn (strabismus).
The following are signs your child might need vision therapy:
- Skips lines while reading, rereads lines, or uses a finger to maintain place
- Avoids close work
- Holds reading material closer than normal
- Rubs eyes frequently
- Complains of headaches
- Squints or closes one eye; tilts head to one side
- Exhibits poor reading comprehension
- Requires extra time to complete homework
- Reverses letters when reading, such as b's and d's
- Demonstrates a short attention span with reading and schoolwork
- Exhibits difficulty in focusing, visual tracking, or alignment and moving of the eyes after 6 months of age
- Displays chronic redness or tearing of the eyes
- Struggles to catch a ball or ride a bike
- Improved reading and learning ability
- Improved eye-hand coordination and sports performance
- Reduced fatigue and headaches associated with reading
- Improved self-esteem and confidence
- Improve the quality of life after stroke or concussion.
- Improved visual skills, including eye focusing, eye tracking, eye teaming, working memory, motor planning, visual sequencing, and motion processing.
Vision therapy can benefit people of all ages. Although it is generally prescribed for younger patients, many adults have benefited from a personalized vision therapy program. That's because the basis of vision therapy is neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to adapt and form new habits. The good news is your brain can form new neural pathways throughout your lifetime, so vision therapy is effective at any age!
Vision therapy utilizes a variety of tools and equipment designed to improve different aspects of visual function. Here are some commonly used tools and equipment in vision therapy:
Stereoscopes
- Brock String: A string with colored beads that helps improve eye coordination, focusing, and convergence (eye teaming).
- Vectograms and Tranaglyphs: Used to enhance binocular vision and depth perception through polarized or red-green lenses.
- Stereo Fly or Randot Stereotest: Tools for assessing and training depth perception and stereopsis (3D vision).
Prism Lenses
- Prisms shift the position of images, encouraging the eyes to work together. They are often used to treat binocular vision disorders, like convergence insufficiency.
Flippers and Lens Bars
- These tools contain lenses of varying strengths and are used for accommodative therapy to improve focus flexibility and eye focusing skills.
Digital Aids and Computer Programs
- Software and digital applications like Vision Therapy Software (VTS) or virtual reality programs are used for visual exercises that improve visual skills, eye tracking, and reaction times.
Balance Boards and Trampolines
- For vestibular integration, balance boards and mini trampolines are sometimes used to coordinate body movement with eye movement, enhancing overall visual-motor skills.
Hart Chart
- This chart contains letters or symbols of varying sizes and distances to improve accommodative and vergence skills, as well as eye tracking.
Marsden Ball
- A ball that hangs from the ceiling, often with letters or symbols, which helps with eye-hand coordination and tracking as the patient follows its movement.
Loose Lenses and Lens Kits
- These lenses vary in strength and type (spherical, cylindrical, and prisms) and are used to test and train focusing and alignment.
Fusion Cards and Aperture Rulers
- Tools used to improve binocular fusion by training the brain to merge two images seen by each eye into a single image.
Eye Movement Monitors and Tracking Devices
- These devices track eye movements and can provide real-time feedback, helping to identify and improve issues with saccades (quick eye movements), pursuits (smooth tracking), and fixation stability.
Metronome
- A metronome provides a steady rhythm to help with timing and coordination exercises. It is often used to improve saccadic eye movements and eye-hand coordination by syncing visual tasks with auditory cues.
Anaglyph Glasses
- These red and blue or red and green glasses are used with anaglyph images or exercises to train depth perception, fusion, and binocular coordination by isolating each eye’s input.
Yoked Prisms
- Yoked prisms are prisms oriented in the same direction for both eyes, used to improve spatial awareness and peripheral vision, and to help treat issues related to visual neglect.
Base-In and Base-Out Prisms
- These prisms are used to train convergence and divergence, which are important for tasks like reading and focusing on objects at various distances.
Therapeutic Filters and Colored Overlays
- Colored filters and overlays can be helpful for individuals with visual processing disorders or sensitivities to certain types of light, such as those with dyslexia or light sensitivity following a concussion.
Saccadic Fixators
- These devices, which may look like a board with lights that flash in different positions, help improve saccadic movements by training the patient to quickly and accurately move their eyes between targets.
Optokinetic Drum
- This rotating drum with stripes or patterns is used to stimulate optokinetic responses and can help with improving visual stability and motion perception.
Patch Occluders and Fogging Lenses
- Patch occluders are used to block vision in one eye temporarily, allowing the other eye to work harder, while fogging lenses blur vision slightly in one eye, encouraging both eyes to work together and promoting binocular balance.
Light Boards and Electronic Panels
- These tools often have various lights or buttons that illuminate, helping to improve visual reaction time, tracking, and peripheral awareness through exercises where patients must respond to visual stimuli.
Liquid Crystal Glasses (Shutter Glasses)
- Used to alternate between clear and opaque states for each eye, these glasses help train eye teaming and alternating vision exercises by quickly switching vision on and off in each eye.
Binasal Occlusion
- A technique that uses tape or other materials to partially block the nasal field of view, often helping to improve convergence and reduce visual stress for patients with binocular vision disorders.
Visual Field Expanders
- Devices like prisms or mirrors are used to extend the visual field for those with field loss, such as hemianopia (loss of half the visual field), improving spatial awareness and navigation.
Each of these tools can be tailored and combined to suit the individual needs of the patient, supporting various aspects of vision therapy and neuro-optometric rehabilitation whether it be eye alignment, focusing, visual processing or coordination. They help patients retrain their visual skills, enhance coordination, and improve overall visual performance.