Four Reasons Why Teachers Need to Ask, “What is Vision Therapy?”
Posted on Wed, Sep 14, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
All across America, school bells are ringing, and kids are returning to the classroom. As teachers prepare for another year-long dive into education, there should be one question all of them can answer: What is vision therapy?
Let’s start with the answer. Vision therapy is a series of visual activities that can be used to improve poor visual skills. These activities are recommended after a diagnosis of a vision problem by a developmental optometrist.
Vision therapy helps the visual system, which includes the brain, eyes, and visual pathways, work together more efficiently. It improves vision problems such as poor depth perception, poor eye-teaming, and convergence insufficiency, to name a few.
Why is it so important that teachers know about vision therapy? Here are four reasons that stand out:
Certain vision problems slip through the cracks. The vision problems that can be corrected with vision therapy often are undetected by typical school screenings. Most screenings focus only on visual acuity, commonly referred to as 20/20 vision. Other vision problems, such as lazy eye (amblyopia) and visual information processing issues, require a functional vision test.
Test scores and grades will be affected. Vision problems can have a profound effect on a child’s school work. A student may have poor organizational skills or won’t be able to concentrate for long periods of time. They may have difficulty reading, because their poor visual skills make it hard to comprehend the print. Because they’re working so hard to read, they may have difficulty processing the meaning of the words, sentences and paragraphs. They may be poor spellers because they can’t visualize the words. (For a more detailed description of how vision can affect a child’s schoolwork, download our Vision and Learning Guide at the bottom of this post.)
Students with vision problems can have behavioral issues. It’s not uncommon for children with vision problems to become extremely frustrated and lash out at their teachers, parents or peers. Imagine the frustration of not being able to read at the same grade level as your peers, even though you know you’re just as bright as they are.
Students may be misdiagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Symptoms from ADD/ADHD are virtually indistinguishable from vision problems. We often see children with vision problems who display dyslexia-like symptoms. After receiving vision therapy, the issue is resolved. There are also cases where a child with a learning disability also has a vision problem. In this case, the impact of that learning disability could be lessened with vision therapy.
Teachers and parents need to be aware of the impact vision problems can have on a student’s ability to learn. They also should be aware that vision therapy is one of the tools that can be used to help a student reach his or her full potential.
(Photo by familymwr)
Learn how undetected vision problems can impact a child's ability to learn. Download your free Vision and Learning Guide.
The Vision Therapy Center has helped over 2,000 people overcome vision problems since 1995, and has Wisconsin vision therapy offices in Brookfield and Madison.