Additional Information

 475+ PARENTS CAN'T BE WRONG

read just a few of the hundreds of Vision Therapy Success Stories now published at www.visiontherapystories.org. This web site offers over 475 enthusiastic testimonials written by patients, parents, and teachers. People of all kinds describe their success with Vision Therapy and ADD-ADHD, Blurry Vision, Brain Injuries, convergence Insufficiency, Dyslexia, Eye Strain, Headaches, NLD, Reading Difficulties, Vision-Related Learning Disabilities, and much more.

 CHOOSING AN EYE DOCTOR
By Patricia S.Lemer, M.Ed., NCC
reprinted from New Developments newsletter Vol.3, No.4

A parent recently asked why I recommended that her child be examined by an optometrist rather than an ophthalmologist. The answer comes from my understanding of these two eye care professions and my personal experience. Both types of eye doctors examine and prescribe glasses, diagnose and treat eye disease, and can even evaluate how well a person uses the eyes together. However, each profession is unique. Ophthalmologists are trained to do surgery. I credit one with saving the eyesight of my daughter, who at age five, sustained an eye injury. Optometrists are schooled in the behavioral (or functional) aspects of vision. They are more apt to use lenses, prisms, and vision therapy to enhance and improve function. These interventions often improve childrens academic and other abilities.

Eyesight vs. Vision

Eyesight and vision are not synonymous. Eyesight is the sharpness of the image seen by the eye. Vision is the ability to focus on and comprehend that which is seen. Research has shown that most children with special needs do not have eyesight problems, while many have visual dysfunction. If a child has motor delays, vestibular difficulties, or health problems, vision is often compromised. The American Optometric Association recommends that children have vision examinations by six months. A good eye doctor can test many aspects of function at this young age and quickly effect changes with intervention. Most school vision screenings check only eyesight - only at twenty feet, not at reading distance. They rarely tell us whether a child has a clear image at nearpoint or how the eyes work together. The only information they provide is whether a child can see the blackboard. Many vision problems thus go undetected when parents have false security and brag, My kid's eyes are 20/20!

  Vision is Learned

Vision, like reading, mathematics, and language, is learned. Giving meaning to what is seen begins at birth. In the developmental hierarchy, infants move without purpose, while their eyes learn how to work as a team, to sustain focus. Toddlers use movement to drive vision, such as shaking a rattle for its sound before looking at it. Finally, children can visualize without movement. Thus, for children to be successful in school, vision must purposefully direct their actions. Drs. Toler have video tapes available to help develop your childís visual system, call the office for more details.

Vision Must Become the Primary Sense

We hear a lot about individual learning styles. My child is a kinesthetic learner, a mother told me. She meant that her child is still using touch and movement to get information about the world. This learning style is more primitive than getting information visually. Well-functioning individuals store all types of sensory images and can visualize and retrieve them upon demand. They no longer need to touch and move to experience their world. Vision directs their thinking, organization listening and actions.

Vision Lays the Foundation for Language & Relationships

Vision plays a major role in language and social emotional development. Children with language delays, attention deficits, pervasive developmental disorders and autism all have inefficient visual systems. If a toddler is not speaking of relating to others, a vision evaluation is essential. A developmental optometrist can prescribe therapeutic and pleasurable activities to be done at home, during floor time, occupational and language therapy, or at day care. Combining the visual system with touch, movement, audition and social experiences benefits all areas.

 PARENTS CENTER
CHECKLIST OF VISION PROBLEMS (print this out)

_______ homework takes hours and hours, when it shouldn't

_______ slow reading speed for age

_______ loses place, skips words, skips lines

_______ your child seems disappointed by their performance in reading and writing

_______ rereads for meaning

_______ head turns as reads across the page

_______ short attention span in reading or copying

_______ have you or anybody noticed one eye turning in or out

_______ your child complains of headaches after school or after reading

_______ your child complains of blurred vision at distance or when reading

_______ your child complains of eyes hurting or feeling tired after school or reading

_______ very verbal, good conversationalist, well developed spoken vocabulary

_______ listening comprehension superior to reading comprehension
_______ confuses left and right directions

_______ writes crookedly, poorly spaced, difficulty staying on ruled lines

_______ knows the material but test scores do not reflect his/her potential

If your child has two or more of these symptoms you need to contact our office immediately for an appointment.  

 TEACHERS CENTER (print this out)
Examples of students that can benefit from vision therapy

_______ the child diagnosed with visual processing and / or perceptual problems

_______ the child that does not answer

_______ one that keeps on guessing, hoping to hit the right answer

_______ the one who watches your face to see if he got the right answer

_______ the one who always to copy the first example and then can do the rest if they are all the same

_______ when the math problems require a variety of formula he is not sure which one should be used

_______ the one who says that he cannot do it over and over until you stop asking

_______ starts to cry so you stop asking

_______ the one who gives you the answers he thinks you want to hear

_______ the adamant one, once he gives you an answer will not change it

_______ the one who keeps asking questions until the right answer is revealed

_______ the memororizer who has trouble applying what he has memorized

_______ the devious child who tries not to commit himself so as not to be wrong

_______ the fast performer who starts and finishes well, but there are errors in the middle

_______ the child who resorts to always saying I don't know