Making Sense of Sight
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VISION THERAPY
For children & adults - when glasses are not enough.
For children & adults - when glasses are not enough.
In our Optometry practice, when we say normal vision, to us it means so much more than just 20/20 vision. Almost all of us depend on our eyes for almost everything we do. Normal visual performance requires our eyesight, visual system and our brains to work in harmony.
Sometimes this process is not harmonious, which often leads to a person exhibiting or experiencing signs and symptoms of a vision issue. These can include, but are not limited to; reading difficulties, (including words moving or jumping on a page or tracking errors), being reluctant to read, difficulty writing or getting their thoughts to paper, visual perception issues (there’s more on this here/below), concentration difficulties or seeming to just not be achieving their learning potential.
Vision therapy is perhaps one of the less well known aspects of vision care, only offered by a small number of Optometrists, called Behavioural Optometrists. They are clearly strong advocates of vision therapy, often because many, just like Peter, have either benefitted themselves or have helped their family or friends develop improved visual skills, before going on to help many of their patients too.
This guide has been written to help you learn more about vision therapy so you can make an informed decision regarding its potential benefits for you or your child.
Some eye care professionals, including some eye doctors, are not convinced of vision therapy's effectiveness and do not recommend it.
If you’ve read this far, the chances are that you’re open minded enough to read on.
What is Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy is a non-invasive, drug-free program of specific vision training exercises with a vision therapist that is supervised by an accredited Behavioral Optometrist.
Vision therapy describes a process that gives the patient the opportunity to develop, maintain and restore visual skills that are required to perform visual tasks during a typical day.
Vision therapy, separately or integrated with other support, can prove to be effective at treating several visual problems, including improving visual skills and visual processing for adults and children.
The goal of vision therapy is to help patients achieve clear, comfortable vision, help development of fundamental visual skills (especially those that are key to our reading and learning processes), and improve how visual information is processed and interpreted.
Vision therapy can be successful in improving the speed, flexibility, endurance and accuracy of the visual system's accommodative response (eye focusing), vergence response (eye teaming) and oculomotor skills (eye tracking). Vision therapy also helps develop higher level visual skills, such as visual processing speed and visually-guided motor responses (eye-hand coordination).
Vision therapy systematically eliminates visual barriers to clear, comfortable, (binocular) vision while simultaneously developing the proper visual coordination required to maintain stable visual skills throughout life.
Vision therapy is like physio for the visual system, including the eyes and the parts of the brain that control vision.
It is important to note that vision therapy is not defined by a simple list of tools and techniques. Successful vision therapy outcomes are achieved through a therapeutic process that depends on the active engagement, importantly the patient, their vision therapist, and (in the case of children) the child's parents.
What vision therapy is not
Vision therapy is not a quick fix for a complex system, but it is a tried and tested process of developing, maintaining and restoring visual skills.
It is important not to mistake Optometrist led vision therapy for self-help vision improvement programs advertised online.
It's also important to know that a home-based regimen of "pencil push-ups," even when recommended by a health professional, should not be considered a complete program or course of vision therapy.
Vision therapy is not the same as, but does share characteristics with sports vision training. Generally we think of the difference as follows: vision therapy is to improve & develop basic vision skills, whereas sports vision training is to enhance a specific skill set as needed by a performance athlete.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Before we discuss eye exercises to improve vision skills, it’s important to note that an initial vision assessment, and if chosen a specialist functional vision assessment must come before a vision therapy program begins and at-home eye exercises for visual skill development can take place.
What are retained (primitive) reflexes
Vision is a learnt process. We’re born with (usually) two eyes that can see but haven’t yet developed detailed vision, fine eye movement control or even most of the visual skills we need throughout our lives.
As babies, although heavily reliant on parental support we have amazing inbuilt basic survival skills. Called primitive reflexes, these early superpowers help us get going and then develop the movement, posture, control and perception skills we use and rely on day to day.
Sometimes these primitive reflexes don’t fully integrate, and the involuntary action they trigger remain active needing to be overcome, often subconsciously, by our voluntary control actions. We can think of this as if a push pull system is going on within us that we don’t always know about.
The following are a list of signs than can be, but not always, related to retained (primitive) reflexes:
Patients with active (retained) primitive reflexes can experience a wide variety of difficulties, including but not limited to; eye movement and visual processing difficulties, coordination difficulties, balance difficulties, light sensitivity, low stamina / early fatigue, toe walking, a dislike of sports, self-organisation difficulties & messiness, posture difficulties, hyperactivity, sensory overload, concentration and attention difficulties, hand writing (letter and or number formation) difficulties, mixed laterality and difficulty expressing thoughts on paper.
The question as to why these primitive reflexes don’t always fully integrate is not a straightforward one to answer. Often we just don’t know, but there is a slightly greater risk that if our birth or early years are not as straightforward as they could be, (assisted delivery or infection/illness at a young age for example) then the natural triggers to integrate our primitive reflexes are perhaps not present or activated when needed.
The science behind Vision Therapy
You've probably heard the old adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
But recent research in the field of neurology suggests that when it comes to the human brain, that's not true. It just may take a little more time and effort.
Studies show that the human brain has a significant amount of neuroplasticity — the general term used to describe the brain's ability to change, both in structure and function in response to learning or experience. Vision Therapy aims to provide the patient the opportunity to develop, maintain and restore visual skills. These changes in the brain, once thought to occur only during early childhood, have been demonstrated to occur in adults as well.
What about Visual Processing?
It is advisable to consider Visual Processing when there are concerns about a person’s ability to learn from visually-presented material. Visual Perceptual and Visual Processing Deficits affect people in different ways. Signs and symptoms of a Visual Processing Deficit can include:
Visual processing is not a sight problem, most people with visual processing difficulty have normal vision, it’s a difficulty making sense, learning from and making best use of what we see.
What about Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory processing disorder (APD) can co-exist with or without visual difficulties. It is considered to be a condition where people’s eyes and brain are not working in harmony, often resulting in difficulty understanding sounds including spoken words.
Patients may have difficulty understanding; others speaking in a noisy environment, people who talk fast or have a strong accent, distinguishing similar sounding words and spoken instructions.
Other signs of auditory processing disorder include people being better listeners in a quiet environment, difficulty spelling or with phonics, difficulty following conversations and finding verbal math problems harder than written ones.
People with auditory processing disorder can have normal hearing and need to be assessed and diagnosed by an audiologist.
If you have any questions that have not been covered here, please email: eyegym@turnersopticians.co.uk and we’ll try to help or see if we can direct you to someone we believe can help you.
To Book Your Appointment Call 0117 962 2474 or 0117 965 4434
Sometimes this process is not harmonious, which often leads to a person exhibiting or experiencing signs and symptoms of a vision issue. These can include, but are not limited to; reading difficulties, (including words moving or jumping on a page or tracking errors), being reluctant to read, difficulty writing or getting their thoughts to paper, visual perception issues (there’s more on this here/below), concentration difficulties or seeming to just not be achieving their learning potential.
Vision therapy is perhaps one of the less well known aspects of vision care, only offered by a small number of Optometrists, called Behavioural Optometrists. They are clearly strong advocates of vision therapy, often because many, just like Peter, have either benefitted themselves or have helped their family or friends develop improved visual skills, before going on to help many of their patients too.
This guide has been written to help you learn more about vision therapy so you can make an informed decision regarding its potential benefits for you or your child.
Some eye care professionals, including some eye doctors, are not convinced of vision therapy's effectiveness and do not recommend it.
If you’ve read this far, the chances are that you’re open minded enough to read on.
What is Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy is a non-invasive, drug-free program of specific vision training exercises with a vision therapist that is supervised by an accredited Behavioral Optometrist.
Vision therapy describes a process that gives the patient the opportunity to develop, maintain and restore visual skills that are required to perform visual tasks during a typical day.
Vision therapy, separately or integrated with other support, can prove to be effective at treating several visual problems, including improving visual skills and visual processing for adults and children.
The goal of vision therapy is to help patients achieve clear, comfortable vision, help development of fundamental visual skills (especially those that are key to our reading and learning processes), and improve how visual information is processed and interpreted.
Vision therapy can be successful in improving the speed, flexibility, endurance and accuracy of the visual system's accommodative response (eye focusing), vergence response (eye teaming) and oculomotor skills (eye tracking). Vision therapy also helps develop higher level visual skills, such as visual processing speed and visually-guided motor responses (eye-hand coordination).
Vision therapy systematically eliminates visual barriers to clear, comfortable, (binocular) vision while simultaneously developing the proper visual coordination required to maintain stable visual skills throughout life.
Vision therapy is like physio for the visual system, including the eyes and the parts of the brain that control vision.
It is important to note that vision therapy is not defined by a simple list of tools and techniques. Successful vision therapy outcomes are achieved through a therapeutic process that depends on the active engagement, importantly the patient, their vision therapist, and (in the case of children) the child's parents.
What vision therapy is not
Vision therapy is not a quick fix for a complex system, but it is a tried and tested process of developing, maintaining and restoring visual skills.
It is important not to mistake Optometrist led vision therapy for self-help vision improvement programs advertised online.
It's also important to know that a home-based regimen of "pencil push-ups," even when recommended by a health professional, should not be considered a complete program or course of vision therapy.
Vision therapy is not the same as, but does share characteristics with sports vision training. Generally we think of the difference as follows: vision therapy is to improve & develop basic vision skills, whereas sports vision training is to enhance a specific skill set as needed by a performance athlete.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Before we discuss eye exercises to improve vision skills, it’s important to note that an initial vision assessment, and if chosen a specialist functional vision assessment must come before a vision therapy program begins and at-home eye exercises for visual skill development can take place.
- The 1st step is an initial vision assessment. At this appointment your Optometrist will thoroughly assess your eye health, ensure you have optimal vision from any glasses you wear and will be able to tell you if you’re a good candidate for vision therapy. This initial step is vital to check that you or your child don’t have an undiagnosed eye problem that needs more specialised attention.
- The 2nd step is a specialist functional vision assessment, with your Behavioural Optometrist. They will look into the finer aspects of your vision system, how it functions and assess your visual skill level.
- The 3rd step is to start regularly & consistently coming to see our Vision Therapist who will guide you or your child through a vision therapy program. This can take between 3 and 9 months on average.
What are retained (primitive) reflexes
Vision is a learnt process. We’re born with (usually) two eyes that can see but haven’t yet developed detailed vision, fine eye movement control or even most of the visual skills we need throughout our lives.
As babies, although heavily reliant on parental support we have amazing inbuilt basic survival skills. Called primitive reflexes, these early superpowers help us get going and then develop the movement, posture, control and perception skills we use and rely on day to day.
Sometimes these primitive reflexes don’t fully integrate, and the involuntary action they trigger remain active needing to be overcome, often subconsciously, by our voluntary control actions. We can think of this as if a push pull system is going on within us that we don’t always know about.
The following are a list of signs than can be, but not always, related to retained (primitive) reflexes:
Patients with active (retained) primitive reflexes can experience a wide variety of difficulties, including but not limited to; eye movement and visual processing difficulties, coordination difficulties, balance difficulties, light sensitivity, low stamina / early fatigue, toe walking, a dislike of sports, self-organisation difficulties & messiness, posture difficulties, hyperactivity, sensory overload, concentration and attention difficulties, hand writing (letter and or number formation) difficulties, mixed laterality and difficulty expressing thoughts on paper.
The question as to why these primitive reflexes don’t always fully integrate is not a straightforward one to answer. Often we just don’t know, but there is a slightly greater risk that if our birth or early years are not as straightforward as they could be, (assisted delivery or infection/illness at a young age for example) then the natural triggers to integrate our primitive reflexes are perhaps not present or activated when needed.
The science behind Vision Therapy
You've probably heard the old adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
But recent research in the field of neurology suggests that when it comes to the human brain, that's not true. It just may take a little more time and effort.
Studies show that the human brain has a significant amount of neuroplasticity — the general term used to describe the brain's ability to change, both in structure and function in response to learning or experience. Vision Therapy aims to provide the patient the opportunity to develop, maintain and restore visual skills. These changes in the brain, once thought to occur only during early childhood, have been demonstrated to occur in adults as well.
What about Visual Processing?
It is advisable to consider Visual Processing when there are concerns about a person’s ability to learn from visually-presented material. Visual Perceptual and Visual Processing Deficits affect people in different ways. Signs and symptoms of a Visual Processing Deficit can include:
- Difficulties with matching
- Difficulties identifying subtle differences (ex: mistakes words with similar beginnings)
- Difficulties completing work under timed conditions (ex: runs out of time with tests or assignments)
- Struggles as a visual learner (ex: prefers auditory presentation)
- Difficulty visualizing concepts (ex: spatial problem solving, picturing a story in their head)
- Difficulties remembering what has been viewed (ex: trouble with sight words)
- Overwhelmed with visually busy environments (visual clutter)
Visual processing is not a sight problem, most people with visual processing difficulty have normal vision, it’s a difficulty making sense, learning from and making best use of what we see.
What about Auditory Processing Disorder?
Auditory processing disorder (APD) can co-exist with or without visual difficulties. It is considered to be a condition where people’s eyes and brain are not working in harmony, often resulting in difficulty understanding sounds including spoken words.
Patients may have difficulty understanding; others speaking in a noisy environment, people who talk fast or have a strong accent, distinguishing similar sounding words and spoken instructions.
Other signs of auditory processing disorder include people being better listeners in a quiet environment, difficulty spelling or with phonics, difficulty following conversations and finding verbal math problems harder than written ones.
People with auditory processing disorder can have normal hearing and need to be assessed and diagnosed by an audiologist.
If you have any questions that have not been covered here, please email: eyegym@turnersopticians.co.uk and we’ll try to help or see if we can direct you to someone we believe can help you.
To Book Your Appointment Call 0117 962 2474 or 0117 965 4434
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