Glossary

Amblyopia: Commonly called a “lazy eye”. It is an eye that has reduced vision that is not correctable by wearing corrective lenses.

Anomalous Retinal Correspondence: A condition in which the center of the retina that produces the sharpest eye sight (the fovea) of the two eyes do not point in a common direction; the fovea of one eye has the same functional direction with a non-foveal point of the other eye.

Binocular: The use of both eyes simultaneously in such a manner that each retinal image contributes to the final perception.

Board Certified Behavioral Optometrist: See also Board Certified Developmental Optometrist. Both titles are used interchangeably.

Board Certified Developmental Optometrist: A Board Certified Developmental Optometrist is an optometrist who has additional training in the testing, diagnosis and treatment of vision disorders. Board certification happens through comprehensive testing completed with the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.  A developmental optometrist treats functional vision problems, including difficulties with binocular vision, eye movements and depth perception, as well as visual deficits following brain injuries.

CVA: Cerebrovascular accident.

Diplopia: Seeing double when trying to focus.

Directionality: The ability to consistently and correctly relate left and right, top and bottom, clockwise and counterclockwise manner and be able to continue properly in tasks which depend upon direction. The ability to project the internal awareness of the two sides of the body, the spatial world of the individual.

Eccentric Fixation: the turned eye does not use the center of the retina that produces the sharpest eyesight (the fovea) to fixate.

Esotropia: An eye that turns in.

Exotropia: An eye that turns out.

Eye Teaming: The ability of both eyes to point at the same object at the same time and work together as a team.  It is directly related to movement control, focusing and convergence.  It allows simultaneous alignment and inspection for accurate and immediate object and symbol awareness.

Eye Tracking: The ability to simultaneously and smoothly follow words on a page or moving objects in space.

Far sighted (Hyperopia): A condition in which a person is able to see more clearly without discomfort at far distances than near, and extra effort is required to maintain focus at near distances.  Treatment for farsightedness includes the use of prescription glasses or contact lenses.

Focusing: The ability to look quickly from distance to near or near to distance without experiencing blurry vision (also called accommodation).

Hand-Eye Coordination: A relationship between visual and kinesthetic clues, resulting in accurate, manual, spatial localization.

Intermittent: Occasionally happening, not constant.

Laterality: The ability to consistently and correctly understand one’s own left and right, top and bottom, front and back. The internal awareness and integration of the two sides of the body.

Monocular: Having or relating to one eye.

Near sighted (Myopia): A condition in which near objects are seen more clearly than objects far away.  Treatment for nearsightedness may include the use of prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses and/or vision therapy.

Neuroplasticity: The ability of the brain to reorganize itself through a program of Vision Therapy and fix problems that arise from the failure of the brain and eyes to communicate properly.

Ophthalmologist: An ophthalmologist is a medical or osteopathic doctor who receives residency training and specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease. In general, ophthalmologists use medical and surgical methods to treat eye diseases and vision disorders.

Optometrist: A primary health care provider who specializes in the examination, diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases and disorders of the visual system, the eye and associated structures.

Perceptual Skills: Visual memory, visual discrimination, spatial relationships, visual closure, visual/auditory integration, visual motor integration, figure-ground discrimination, directionality, laterality and bi-laterality are all examples of perceptual skills.

Pursuits: Eye movements following a moving target, a type of eye tracking.

Retained Reflexes: Reflexes needed for the birthing process and the first few weeks of life that did not develop into more complicated reflexes. (Many people who have cared for an infant are familiar with primitive reflexes: Turn an infant’s head to one side and the arm and leg on that side turns in the same direction (Asymmetric Tonic Neck Reflex). Stroke an infant’s low back on one side and their side muscles instantly contract (Spinal Galant Reflex). Surprised by a sound, the infant instantly spreads their hands wide, throws their head back, and opens their eyes widely (Moro Reflex). Doctors often gauge the development of the child by the orderly progression of these reflexes.  Under optimal circumstances all reflexes “initiate” during the appropriate stage of the child’s development, “integrate” themselves as a fully functioning reflex, and then “inhibit” or fall away when it’s time to move on to the next developmental stage. It is vital that this occurs.  If various reflexes fail to initiate, integrate and inhibit, the system is locked into a developmental holding pattern that prevents natural maturation of neural systems, inevitably leading to mild through severe learning and performance challenges.)

Saccades: Eye movements to fixate an object in a series, such as moving the eyes from one word to the next in reading, a type of eye tracking.  When a moving object moves faster than eyes can follow, the eyes resort to saccades.

Strabismus: Commonly called a “crossed eye” or “wandering eye”. It is an eye that turns in or out.

TBI: Traumatic brain injury.

Vision Therapist: A person trained to implement vision therapy procedures.

Vision Therapy: A series of visual procedures based on neuroscience used to retrain the brain and eyes to work smoothly and efficiently together.

Visual/Auditory Integration: The ability to match auditory and visual stimuli in the brain.

Visual Acuity: The ability to see things at a given distance.

Visual Closure: The ability to recognize familiar figures that have been partially obscured or removed.

Visual Discrimination: The ability to see the similarities and differences in shapes, forms, objects, letters, words, etc.

Visual Form Perception:  The ability to accurately discriminate likeness and differences, and the ability to reproduce and generalize forms.

Visual Memory: The ability to remember what has been seen, without relying on subvocalization, tactile, or auditory feedback. The act of forming a mental visual image of something seen before or visualized.

Visual Motor Integration: The ability to match visual and motor skills in the brain, such as copying a series of pictures or forms.

Visual Perception: The ability of the mind to receive visual stimuli, process it accurately, integrate this information with stimuli from other senses (sensory integration) and with past experience, and to program accurate and meaningful responses accordingly.

Visual Sequential Memory: The ability to recall a sequence of numbers, letters or objects in the order they were originally given.

Visual Space Orientation:  The ability of the eyes and brain to work together to perceive relative positions of objects in the visual field.