Over 25% Of School
Aged Children Have
Visual Issues That
Affect Learning
Vision Therapy At Bolton, CA Optometrists
Our Bolton, CA optometrists specialize in vision therapy and the treatment of learning-related vision problems are sometimes called behavioral optometrists or developmental optometrists.
Vision Training or Vision Therapy also called orthoptics is an individualized program for the treatment of non-refractive vision problems.
Eye exercises and tasks are tailored to the child's specific vision problem. The therapy can be performed in an optometrist’s office with additional visual tasks that the child will need to perform daily at home.
Our Optometrists, have extensive experience providing vision therapy for children and adults in Vaughan, Brampton and Richmond Hill, with incredible results.
We are a proud member of:
Children Learning Disorders, & Vision
Vision problems in children, other than simple refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism are not uncommon. These issues can cause significant behavioral and learning challenges for children.
Often, these challenges manifest in ways that are often confused with
- Dyslexia
- ADD
- ADHD
- Reading Problems
- Poor focus
- Amblyopia (“lazy eye”)
- Eye Alignment
- Visual Perceptual Disorders
and can result in misdiagnosis, all requiring vision therapy. If children exhibiting these symptoms receive a negative diagnosis, left untreated, these non-refractive vision problems can cause learning problems, fatigue, eyestrain and headaches. If you are concerned about your student or child, schedule a developmental eye exam with our optometrist and Vision Therapy doctor today!
Convergence Insufficiency
This near-vision problem is the leading cause of eyestrain, blurry vision, and double vision.
Research demonstrates that the traditional focus exercise often called "pencil pushups" are ineffective.
The only consistently effective treatment for convergence insufficiency is Vision Therapy.
A study of almost 700 5th and 6th graders indicated that convergence insufficiency is much more common than many assumed.
With 13% of students having CI, as well as demonstrating that of the children who showed three signs of CI, 79% where classified as being accommodative insufficient as well.
Special Needs & Vision
Special needs such as autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, and other conditions often mean a child struggles with hand-eye-coordination. Children with these challenges, or anything else requiring occupational therapy, is very likely to gain immensely from Vision Therapy. A regimen of customized focus and perception exercises will improve depth perception and fine motor skills.
- 45% of patients with down syndrome have strabismus/cross eye
- As many as 40% of autistic people have strabismus/cross eye
- Estimates of the incidence of strabismus in children with cerebral palsy go as high as 88%, Vision Therapy has shown to be effective for children with cerebral palsy.
Strabismus & Amblyopia
Strabismus and Amblyopia are forms of visual acuity problems that persist even with prescription lenses. In order to avoid double-vision, the eyes will often be misaligned resulting being "cross-eyed" or a "lazy eye". This not only makes it difficult to see and coordinate effectively, it can also be socially devastating.
The traditional treatment has been patching, which contemporary research has found to be only partially effective at best, completely ineffective at worst.
Unlike patching, Vision Therapy has consistently found to be an effective treatment for strabismus and amblyopia, resulting in sustained and significant improvement.
Learning Disability & Vision: What Does The Research Say?
Connection: Learning Disabilities & Vision
60% of learning disabled students failed two or more binocular vision tests according to research by the Waterloo School of Optometry.
The study was performed on students who had never received an eye exam and did not wear glasses or contacts. The research confirmed that children with learning disabilities, especially reading related learning disabilities have an extremely strong chance of having binocular issues (problems with the eye working together).
How Many Students Have Binocular Vision Problems?
According to research performed by The AAO 32% of university students had Binocular Vision Issues.
The conclusion of this study is:
"Because these dysfunctions have a negative effect on performance, appropriate vision evaluation for this population is extremely important.
In this study 31% of the students needed Vision Therapy for symptoms such as eye strain, double vision and headaches.
Vision Therapy: Reading & Dyslexia
Reading is the perfect example of a complex visual task that requires skills such as eye tracking and focusing (accommodation), eye teaming and coordination (Binocularity).
According to Dr. Debra Walhof M.D, member of the National Center for Learning Disabilities:
"It is important to remember that normal sight may not necessarily be synonymous with normal vision..." Learn more about reading and vision therapy.
The following is a video by Susan Barry, PhD about her experience with Vision Therapy:
This video is more comprehensive and goes into a lot more detail about the visual process:
Here is another great video which explains what 3D movies can tell you about your vision:
Articles from the Optometric Extension Program
Changes in Scores on the COVD - Quality of Life Assessment Before and After Vision Therapy
- Convergence insufficiency has symptoms such as eyestrain (especially during or after reading), headaches, blurred vision, double vision, inability to concentrate, short attention span, frequent loss of place, squinting, rubbing, closing or covering an eye, and reduced reading comprehension.
- Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD) has symptoms such as Headache, Problems driving, Dizziness, Difficulty walking in a straight line, Light sensitivity, Problems using the computer, Balance problems and Difficulty when in visually stimulating environments like supermarkets or shopping malls.
- Syntonics or optometrist phototherapy is a branch of science that uses specific wavelengths of light to treat vision problems. This type of therapy has existed for many years and versions of this science can be seen in the treatment of jaundiced babies with blue light and Seasonal Affective Disorder patients treated with white light.
- Traumatic Brain Injury has symptoms such as Headache, Loss of visual clarity, Dizziness, Double vision, Problems reading, Focusing problems, Problems using the computer, Balance problems and Avoiding visually busy environments like grocery stores or malls.
- Vision Therapy is a doctor supervised program designed to improve the function of the visual system. In many cases, athletes can benefit from vision therapy to improve their game.
- Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI is a common cause of vision loss. If you are experiencing symptoms of vision loss or reduced vision due to a head injury such as concussions or whiplash from a car accident, our Doctor led Vision Therapy program may be able to help you.