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What is Vision Therapy?

Good vision requires your eyesight, visual pathways, and brain to work together. When they do not, even a person with 20/20 eyesight can experience difficulty reading, writing and processing information. This is when a unique service, vision therapy, is useful. While it is the case that many visual problems are corrected with optical aids such as glasses or contact lenses, other visual functions and skills require a different approach.
 
Vision therapy has been utilized in Optometry since 1930. A vision therapy program can have a significant impact on a patient's quality of life. Dr. Kristen Vincent, Residency trained in Vision Therapy & Rehabilitation, is a developmental optometrist. She performs functional vision evaluations, which assess the many visual skills necessary for good vision, to determine if a vision problem exists. Depending on your specific vision problem, Dr. Vincent may prescribe vision therapy.

​Vision therapy helps the patient develop the visual skills necessary for good vision. Optical devices and exercises are used to improve the eye-brain connection in order to make eye movements easier and more efficient. The patient learns how to correctly process and interpret the visual information that the brain receives from the eyes.

Vision therapy can range from a few sessions to a few years of training, and involves office visits combined with at-home activities. Most vision therapy programs last approximately 6-9 months.

Who benefits from Vision Therapy?

Patients who require vision therapy generally have the following visual challenges:
  • Learning related visual problems: Conditions such as poor eye teaming, focusing, tracking and visualization skills can all negatively affect learning.
  • Crossed Eye (Strabismus) or Lazy Eye (Amblyopia): Crossed or wandering eyes and/or lazy eyes can sometimes be treated with vision therapy instead of conventional surgery, glasses or patching. Vision therapy is very effective for these conditions at an early age, but can yield results for patients of any age.
  • Stress-induced vision problems: Our high-tech society requires many people to do a large volume of near work in front of a computer screen. Because of this, there are an increasing number of patients that experience eyestrain, headaches and other visual related difficulties.
  • Visual rehabilitation for special populations (strokes, brain injuries, developmental delays, behavioral disorders, etc.): A neurological disorder or trauma to the nervous system can affect a person’s vision. This includes people who have traumatic brain injuries, strokes, whiplash, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological ailments.
  • Sports vision improvement: Even good vision can become better. Athletes often use vision therapy to improve eye-hand coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral awareness, eye teaming, focusing, tracking and visualization skills.

Expected results from Vision Therapy

Typical improvements noted as a result of our vision therapy program include:
  • Improved concentration
  • Increased interest in reading, along with better comprehension and speed
  • Improved focusing ability and control
  • Reduction or cessation of eyestrain or headache symptoms associated with visual tasks
  • Reduction in light sensitivity
  • Improved depth perception
  • Clearer vision at distance and/or near
  • Improved peripheral vision awareness or spatial awareness
  • Reduction in time necessary to complete homework
  • Improved ability to follow moving objects such as a ball or a car

Is vision therapy possible at any age?

There is no age barrier to treating vision problems with vision therapy. Many people assume they do not have a vision problem because their visual clarity is generally good. However, eyesight or clarity is only a small part of the overall process of vision. Vision is the result of the method by which the brain and the eyes work together. Consequently, many adults do not realize that some of their life-long difficulties are caused by a vision problem.

​Life-long problems caused by an undiagnosed vision problem include:
  • Falling asleep when reading
  • Closing one eye to read
  • Avoiding reading
  • Sore or tired eyes
  • Finding it difficult to make eye contact
  • Difficulty judging distances while driving or playing sports
  • Headaches
Our vision therapy programs are customized to the individual and work well for both children and adults. Dr. Vincent works closely with her patients to guide them through the program, while encouraging them to appreciate what they need to do to make the visual process more comfortable and automatic.

To learn more about vision therapy and binocular vision, visit children-special-needs.org
 
Visit Vision Therapy Success Stories to browse hundreds of success stories from parents, teachers, adults and children.
 
Please contact us for more information and to schedule an appointment with Dr. Kristen Vincent

Office Hours:

Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 7:00pm