About Vision Therapy

Vision therapy is a program with a comprehensive set of exercises designed to support and enhance the development of visual skills such as eye teaming, focusing, tracking, pattern recognition, and visual memory. Vision therapy can be implemented at any age. The types of techniques used depend on the age of the child and the team supporting that child. Vision therapy can be home based, office based or integrated into other therapies.

In-office therapy is typically done once or twice per week in 30-minute sessions. After nearly 30 years of experience, we have found that 30 minutes is the optimum amount of time to produce positive therapeutic changes without excessive fatigue and visual strain.

The recommended ages for routine eye care are:

• 6-9 months of age for initial evaluation, especially for children at risk
• 3 years of age to evaluate general development and reading readiness
• 5 years of age to check for continued health and appropriate development
• Annually for school age children

Signs of Vision Challenges

In Infants look for:

• Difficulty tracking objects
• Poor face recognition and eye contact
• Eyes that turn inward or outward

In Preschoolers look for:

• Avoidance of coloring, puzzles, books or playground equipment
• Poor eye-hand coordination and clumsiness
• Head tilts or turns
• Squinting and/or covering or closing an eye

In Elementary School students, look for:

• Trouble decoding or recognizing sight words
• Getting too close to books and writing
• Skipping or rereading words
• Substituting words when reading
• Trouble copying
• Taking too long to finish tests and homework
• Poor reading comprehension
• Frequent reversal errors
• Lack of organization
• Complaints of:
• Headaches
• Blurred vision
• Double vision
• Visual fatigue
• Dizziness
• Avoidance of reading and homework