What is Vision Therapy?
Optometric Vision Therapy is:
- A progressive program of vision procedures based on the science of neuroplasticity. (Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to reorganize itself and fix problems that arise from the failure of the brain and eyes to communicate properly.)
- Performed under doctor supervision
- Individualized to fit the visual needs of each patient
- Conducted in-office, with twice weekly sessions of 45 minutes
- Supplemented with procedures done at home between office visits
Optometric Vision Therapy Is Not Just Eye Exercises!
Unlike other forms of exercise, the goal of Optometric Vision Therapy is not to strengthen eye muscles. Your eye muscles are already incredibly strong—they are the strongest muscles in the body! Optometric vision therapy is supported by ongoing evidence-based scientific research that vision is learned and developed.
Therapy techniques arrange conditions to learn visual information gathering skills and information processing skills. This involves helping a person learn to use his or her visual system more efficiently, whether to aid vision development, enhance or remediate binocular skills and abilities, or rehabilitate the visual process after brain injury.
Vision Therapy sessions include procedures designed to enhance the brain's ability to control:
- Eye Alignment
- Eye Teaming
- Eye Focusing Abilities
- Eye Movements
- Eye-Hand Coordination
- Visual Processing (Visual Discrimination, Visual Spatial Relations, Visual Memory, Laterality/Directionality, Figure-Ground, Form Closure).
Visual skills and visual endurance are developed through the use of specialized computer and optical devices, such as therapeutic lenses, prisms, and filters. All the systems in the body are integrated using metronomes, balance boards and vestibular activating techniques to name a few. During the final stages of therapy, the patient's newly acquired visual skills are reinforced and made automatic through repetition and by integration with motor and cognitive skills.