Vision Therapy at Whitby Vision Care

“Seeing Clearly isn’t’ just about seeing 20/20”

Many children have vision problems other than simple refractive errors (nearsighted, farsighted, astigmatism). These other vision problems include amblyopia (lazy eye), eye alignment, or eye teaming problems, focusing problems, and visual perceptual disorders. Left untreated, these non-refractive vision problems can cause eyestrain, and fatigue.

Vision therapy is a unique and custom program designed to enhance visual skills, and is used to treat disorders in visual efficiency and perception, which cannot be treated with glasses alone.

Sometimes, if the visual system has not developed properly, the brain may use adaptations to compensate, such as through a turned eye, lazy eye or more subtle approaches like covering or closing an eye while reading.

The goal of vision therapy program is to enable the patient to see clearly and comfortably while using both eyes together as a team and by enhancing the brain’s ability to better to coordinate and control with the eyes.

Eye teaming and brain-eye coordination are important in:

• eye alignment
• eye tracking/eye teaming
• eye movement
• visual processing
• visual perception

These skills are all important for reading, learning, as well as daily activities with high visual demands such as using a computer. Inability to use these functional skills can lead to headaches, fatigue and eyestrain.

Treatment of Vision Related Learning Problems in Children

The connection between good vision and success in school in undisputed. About 80% of what a student learns in school in information that is presented visually. We live in a visual world, thus good vision is essential for a student of any age to reach their full potential and have success in the school setting.

If you child is not succeeding in school, ruling out vision problems should be one of your first steps. Our doctors have the skills and expertise to identify if a vision problem is interfering with your child’s ability to access information and participate fully in school.

Watch for these symptoms in addition with school challenges:

• Headaches or eyestrain
• Blurred vision or double vision
• Crossed eyes
• Dislike or avoidance of reading/close work
• Short attention span during visual tasks
• Turning or tilting the head to use one eye only
• Placing the head very close to the book while reading
• Excessive blinking or rubbing the eye
• Losing place while reading or using a giner as a guide
• Slow reading speed/poor reading comprehension
• Poor eye-hand coordination

Having your child’s eyes checked regularly is important and can help them succeed in school. Book an appointment today to learn more about vision therapy for learning problems, concussion rehabilitation, lazy eye and strabismus.