How can optometrists help?

Visual processing describes the way the brain processes visual information – this includes all information from a child’s reading, computer, sports, facial cues and social interactions.

Visual processing difficulties affect many students diagnosed with reading and learning disabilities, dyslexia and ADD/ADHD.

What are VIP difficulties?

There are several different types of visual processing difficulties, each with its own symptoms. An individual can have more than one type of visual processing difficulty.

1. Visual discrimination

Visual discrimination is the ability to recognize similarities and differences between shapes, sizes, objects, colors and patterns.

2. Visual figure-ground

Figure-ground perception is the ability to filter visual information that isn’t immediately relevant  so that you can focus on the relevant visual information.

3. Form constancy 

Form constancy is a visual perceptual skill that allows you to understand that a form, shape or object stays the same even when it changes its size, position or is in a different environment.

4. Visual closure

Visual closure is a visual perceptual skill that allows you to know what an object is even when the object is only partially visible.

5. Visual memory

Visual memory is the ability to immediately recall what the eye has seen.

6. Visual sequential memory

Visual sequential memory is the ability to remember and recall a sequence of objects and/or events in the correct order.

7. Visual motor integration

Visual motor integration is the ability to interpret visual information and respond with a motor action.

Signs VIP difficulties?

The most common signs of VIP difficulties include:

• Slow reading speed
• Difficulties with spelling
• Confusing similar looking words
• Reading words backwards
• Writing letters or numbers backwards
• Reduced math skills
• Poor reading comprehension
• Messy handwriting
• Confusion of letters and numbers

How can vision therapy help?

A vision therapy treatment program can improve a child’s visual processing abilities through eye exercises that help retrain the eyes and brain to work together.

Schedule an eye exam with a vision therapy eye doctor near you who can diagnose and treat any vision problems your child may have.

The post What is Visual Information Processing? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

When a child has a visual processing or perceptual disorder it hinders their ability to make sense of information taken in through the eyes and visual system. This does not mean they have problems with sharpness of vision or sight.

Many children have difficulties with eye tracking, which impacts how the brain interprets visual information.

What is eye tracking?

Eye tracking, also called visual tracking, is the eyes’ ability to track from left to right in an efficient manner and to follow moving objects.

Eye tracking problems are successfully treated with vision therapy.

Eye movements should be quick, consistent and smooth.

Eye tracking is critical to success in sports and school. The ability to track a ball or words on a page are affected when a person has poor eye tracking skills.

Poor eye tracking skills can cause difficulty in math, reading and writing. The issue is not with the eyes themselves, but the eye muscles. With poor eye tracking, eye motions may lack smoothness, causing vision to be jumpy. This can be a big contributor to dyslexia symptoms.

If you suspect your child has a learning difficulty, contact an eye doctor near you, who can diagnose and treat any visual problems.

SEE RELATED: 2021 Update: Reading Fluency

Eye tracking symptoms  

Some of the symptoms associated with eye tracking deficits include:

• Difficulty paying attention
• Clumsiness
• Difficulty copying from the board at school
• Guessing of words
• Guided reading – uses a finger when reading
• Loss of place when reading, writing, or copying
• Omits words or transposes words when reading
• Overwhelmed by pages of text
• Poor accuracy with word endings
• Poor awareness of punctuation
• Poor reading comprehension, fluency and speed
• Poor handwriting
• Poor sports performance
• Skips sentences
• Resists or avoids reading
• Re-reads words or sentences
• Reverses words or letters
• Rubs or squints eyes when reading
• Tilts head when reading
• Words or text may appear to float or move on the page

Vision therapy and eye tracking

The best way to treat a visual tracking disorder is with vision therapy. 

Vision therapy is a customized program to help strengthen the eye-brain connection, which is often weak in a person with visual tracking problems. It involves specific exercises designed to teach the eyes how to move smoothly from one place to another.

Sometimes reading lenses and/or bifocals can be helpful to reduce eye tracking symptoms. Therefore your eye doctor may recommend a vision therapy program along with lenses.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Vision and Learning Difficulties

Schedule an appointment with a vision therapy eye doctor near you to evaluate your child’s eye tracking abilities.

The post 2021 Update: Vision Therapy for Eye Tracking appeared first on Optometrists.org.

Vision is not just ‘20/20 sight’ but is also how the eyes and brain communicate.

Your child may have clear sight, but in order to learn and have clear handwriting and accurate spelling a child also needs well developed visual skills.

Visual skills are how the eyes and brain talk to each other and are essential to perform at school, especially for handwriting and spelling. If your child has a problem with any of their 17 visual skills the clarity of their handwriting and accuracy of their spelling could be affected.

According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), up to 1 every 4  children have a significant vision problem that impacts their learning and school performance.

Schedule an eye exam with an eye doctor near you who can evaluate and determine if your child’s visual skills are impacting their learning.

SEE RELATED: 2021 Update: Reading Comprehension

How do visual problems impact the child?

Vision problems can affect a child’s reading, writing and spelling along with other aspects of learning. If your child’s vision is compromised then their academic performance may suffer.

Vision problems can impact any of these:

• Handwriting
• Homework completion
• Reading fluency
• Reading comprehension
• Spelling
• Attention and concentration
• Classroom performance
• Visual arts

Vision skills for writing

Efficient writing is vital for taking notes, completing assignments and taking exams. Illegible handwriting can lead to proofreading mistakes, and sometimes even avoidance of writing tasks.

If your child is unable to write legibly, they may have reduced fine visual motor and visual perception skills.

Fine visual motor skills: help a child to write neatly, with appropriately sized letters. A child with poor fine visual motor skills may press too hard on the page when writing, which can lead to muscle strain and fatigue of the hand or wrist.

Visual perception: helps a child to visualize words and letters, including their size and shape. This skill triggers a subconscious motor response that  enables the child to write the letters and words on the paper. Without this skill, the ability to write legibly will be affected.

A combination of these two visual skills is necessary to ensure that the letters are written in sequence, consistently sized, within the lines, and appropriately spaced.

Vision skills for spelling

A child’s spelling abilities are affected by their visual skills in focusing and eye pursuits skills.

Focusing: allows your child to see a word with absolute clarity. If a child has poor focusing skills, they may exert too much energy in making sure the word is seen clearly, which can affect their word memory.

Eye Pursuits: enable the eyes to scan a word, with smooth binocular movements, in order to read a word accurately. Without this visual skill, a child may omit sounds in a word. These assumptions and omissions often lead to spelling mistakes.

Vision therapy and writing and spelling

Vision therapy is a personalized treatment program that involves a series of eye exercises to strengthen the eye-brain connection and improve visual skills.

It is important to treat vision problems as early as possible so that your child can achieve optimal results and reach their full potential in school.

If you think your child may have a vision problem, schedule a comprehensive vision evaluation with a vision therapy eye doctor near you.

LEARN MORE:  Guide to Vision and Learning Difficulties

The doctor will be able to detect any vision problems, and will discuss how vision therapy could improve your child’s writing and spelling.

The post 2021 Update: Writing and Spelling appeared first on Optometrists.org.

Are looking for published research on VT?

Provided below are just a few references for published research articles on vision therapy and its effectiveness for the treatment of many vision conditions.

1. Clinical Trial of Treatments for Convergence Insufficiency in Children

Conclusion: Office-based vision therapy is an effective treatment for children with Convergence Insufficiency.

Published by: Mitchell Scheiman, OD; Susan Cotter, OD, MS; G. Lynn Mitchell, MAS; Marjean Kulp, OD, MS; Michael Rouse, OD, MEd; Richard Hertle, MD; and Maryann Redford, DDS, MPH. ‘Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) Study Group. A randomized clinical trial of treatments for convergence insufficiency in children. Archives of Ophthalmology 2005’; 123:14-24.

2. Best Treatment Determined for Childhood Eye Problem

Conclusion: 75 percent of the children who had weekly office-based vision therapy experienced significant improvement in their convergence in 12 weeks.

Published by: Mayo Clinic: ‘Best Treatment Determined for Childhood Eye Problem’ : Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency with Vision Therapy.

3. Effective Treatment Identified for Common Childhood Vision Disorder

Conclusion: Vision Therapy is effective treatment for a common childhood eye coordination problem called convergence insufficiency.

Published by: National Eye Institute, ‘More Effective Treatment Identified for Common Childhood Vision Disorder’: Evidence-Based Treatment for Convergence Insufficiency

4. Effective Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency (CI)

Summary: Although CI is quite common, with reported rates of prevalence ranging up to 13%, this pilot study by Scheiman and colleagues does move forward our understanding of the treatment of this disorder.

Published by: Kushner Burton J. ‘The Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency. Archives of Ophthalmology 2005’, 123:100-101. Complete article – PDF version

If you feel you or your child could benefit from Vision Therapy, schedule an appointment with a vision therapy eye doctor and they will answer all your questions.

SEE RELATED: Guide to Vision Therapy

5. Study Reveals Developmental Mechanisms of Eye Movement

Conclusion: Genes linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and other developmental brain abnormalities, may be playing a role in people who cannot control their eye movements.

Published by: National Eye Institute: Autism and Eye Movements, 2019: Autism linked to Eye Movement Control

6. The Amblyopia Treatment Studies: Implications for Clinical Practice

Conclusion: Patching times for amblyopia can be reduced and still achieve a similar visual improvement.

Published by:  Angela M. Chen, Susan A. Cotter: Adv Ophthalmol Optom. 2016 Aug’ The Amblyopia Treatment Studies: Implications for Clinical Practice’; Amblyopia Treatment Studies.

7. Vision, Learning, and Dyslexia

Summary: A policy statement that addresses important issues regarding the identification and treatment process for individuals with learning-related vision problems and dyslexia.

A Joint Organizational Policy Statement of the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Association. ‘Vision, Learning, and Dyslexia’. 1997. Complete article – PDF version

8. Research on the Efficacy of Vision Therapy for Specific Visual Dysfunctions

Finding: Optometric and ophthalmological research supports the efficacy of vision therapy for treatment of the visual dysfunctions discussed in this article.

Published by: Cooper, Jeffrey. Summary of Research on the Efficacy of Vision Therapy for Specific Visual Dysfunctions. Adapted from The Journal of Behavioral Optometry 1998; 9(5):115-119. Complete article – PDF version

9. A Joint Organizational Policy Statement of the American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Association

Summary: A policy statement describing the goals of a vision therapy program, and its effectiveness for treatment of a wide variety of vision conditions.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Vision Therapy

A Joint Organizational Policy Statement of The American Academy of Optometry and the American Optometric Association. ‘Vision Therapy: Information for Health Care and Other Allied Professionals’. 1999. Complete article – PDF version

The post 2021 Update: Vision Therapy Research appeared first on Optometrists.org.

Up to 25 in every 100 children are affected by vision problems — that’s at least six students in every class.

This checklist will help you to discover if an undiagnosed visual problem could be impacting your child.

Regular and comprehensive eye exams are crucial for detecting vision problems — and essential in aiding a student’s academic success.

Schedule a comprehensive eye exam with an eye doctor near you, to detect any underlying vision problems your child may have.

SEE RELATED: Could Your Child Have Digital Eye Strain?

How to use this Checklist?

Follow these steps;

1. Print off the these pages
2. Carefully read through the checklist and tick any boxes
3. Schedule an appointment for your child to see an eye doctor experienced in vision therapy
4. Take these pages to the appointment

Parents Checklist

Below is a checklist for parents that may signal that your child has a vision problem.

Does your child display any of these behaviors? 

• Reading below grade level
• Reads words backwards, such as: was=saw and top=pot
• Closing or squinting of one eye
• Excessive blinking or squinting
• Frequently bumps into objects or drops things
• Frequently loses items
• Head is frequently tilted to one side or one shoulder is noticeably higher
• One eye turns or drifts in a different direction than the other
• Poor motor/visual coordination skills (hand-eye coordination)
• Problems judging distances and bumping into objects
• Tilts or turns head while reading or during other visual activities

Does your child ever complain of;

• Blurry vision
• Concentration and attention difficulties
• Dizziness or nausea
• Double vision
• Words move on a page or run together
• Eye strain or headaches
• Motion sickness or car sickness

3. Does your child display any of these whilst reading?

• Avoids or dislikes reading
• Covers or closes one eye
• Fatigues easily
• Frequently loses place and/or skips words
• Holds object or reading material too close
• Repeats lines when reading
• Rubs eyes during or after periods of reading
• Tilts head toward object or book
• Uses finger or ruler to read

If your child shows any of these signs or symptoms, schedule an evaluation with an experienced vision therapy eye doctor.

How does vision therapy help?

Treating visual problems often has a direct and positive impact in reducing problematic behavioral and learning problems.

Vision therapy is a customized treatment program that involves specific eye exercises that help to retrain the eyes and brain to communicate better.

Researchers have found that vision therapy can be helpful for children who have been diagnosed with ADHD or learning disabilities but whose learning problems are actually related to visual dysfunction.

If a child’s eyes aren’t focusing properly, then attention, focus, grades, reading abilities, and behavior are affected.

LEARN MORE:   Vision Therapy for Children

Schedule an evaluation with a vision therapy eye doctor who can diagnose and treat your child’s vision problems.

The post 2021 Update: Parent’s Checklist for Vision Therapy appeared first on Optometrists.org.

Vision gives a person the ability to see near and distant objects. There are 17 visual skills that are necessary to perform at school and the office, these are all critical for learning.

Research shows 25 percent of children have a significant vision problem that impacts their learning, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA).

If your child has a problem with any of their 17 visual skills their learning and reading could be affected.

Schedule an eye exam with an eye doctor near you who can evaluate and determine if your child has a vision problem.

SEE RELATED: 2021 Update: Reading Fluency

How do visual problems impact the child?

Vision problems can affect a child’s reading, writing and spelling along with other aspects of learning. If your child’s vision is compromised then their academic performance may suffer.

Vision problems can impact any of these:

• Attention and concentration
• Classroom performance
• Handwriting
• Homework completion
• Reading fluency
• Reading comprehension
• Spelling
• Visual arts

Vision problems and learning difficulties

If your child has a learning difficulty, the cause may be an undiagnosed vision problem. 

Two visual skills, saccades and visual integration, are instrumental in a child’s ability to read.

Saccades is a skill that enables fluid reading. This skill allows your eyes to move smoothly and in coordination across a line on a page. Without it, words may be omitted in a sentence or a child may make word assumptions that can affect the meaning of the sentence and/or passage.

Visual integration is a skill that allows a child to read words accurately, seeing the order and shape of each letter in a word. Without visual integration, a child may confuse letters such as b and d or p and q, or confuse words such as ‘was’ and ‘saw’.

If your child is having difficulty reading at grade level, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor near you, who can evaluate your child’s vision and visual skills.

Vision therapy and learning

Vision therapy is a personalized treatment program that involves a series of eye exercises to strengthen the eye-brain connection, improve visual skills and overall learning and school achievements.

It is important to treat vision problems as early as possible so that your child can achieve optimal results and reach their full potential in school.

LEARN MORE: Vision Therapy for ADHD

If you think your child may have a vision problem, schedule a comprehensive vision evaluation with a vision therapy eye doctor near you.

The doctor will be able to detect any vision problems, and will discuss how vision therapy could improve your child’s learning.

The post 2021 Update: Vision Therapy for Learning appeared first on Optometrists.org.

If a child has any type of visual dysfunction it could prevent them from achieving academic success and affect their reading fluency.

These children are often bright and intelligent, but somehow their reading is still below grade level.

If your child is not reading to their potential contact an eye doctor near you, as they may have an undetected visual problem, which might require reading glasses or vision therapy.

SEE RELATED: 2021 Update: Writing and Spelling

What is reading fluency?

Reading fluency is the ability to read accurately, smoothly and with expression. Fluent readers recognize words automatically, without struggling over decoding issues. As they read, the words sound natural, as if they’re speaking.

Fluency is an essential classroom skill as it bridges the child’s word recognition to their comprehension. 

It allows students time to focus on what the text is saying and enables them to make connections between what they are reading and their own background knowledge. They are able to concentrate on comprehension.

Non-fluent readers sound choppy and read slowly. They spend more time decoding, leaving less time and energy for comprehension. They often have to read the same passage several times to comprehend what they are reading.

Reading fluency and vision

Reading fluency is dependent on the strength of visual skills such as accommodation, binocular vision, convergence, saccades, and visual fixation. Many children benefit with reading glasses, while others require a program of vision therapy to improve their visual efficiency skills.

A deficiency in any of these vital visual skills can result in reading difficulties, which can  impact a child’s ability to learn.

Which visual skills are necessary for reading?

• Accommodation – the eyes’ ability to switch focus between two distances while maintaining clear vision.
• Binocular fusion – the brain’s ability to form a single image using the distinct visual information it receives from each eye.
• Convergence – the eyes’ ability to maintain a single image by simultaneously turning inward to focus on a near object, such as a book or computer screen.
• Saccades – rapid eye movements between two or more focus points, such as when the eyes move from one word to the next when reading a sentence across a page.
• Visual fixation – the eye’s ability to accurately focus on a target image, such as a word on a page.

Could my child have a vision problem?

It can be difficult to identify a vision problem in a child, as they may not be able to verbally express themselves or know that they have a vision problem, such as visual efficiency problems.

Common signs of a vision problem may include:

• Behavioral problems
• Covering one eye
• Excessive fidgeting
• Frequent blinking
• Limited attention span
• Reading avoidance
• Reading below school grade level
• Reading comprehension difficulties
• School avoidance
• Tilting head to one side

If your child is displaying signs of a visual impairment, it is important to visit an eye doctor near you for a comprehensive evaluation of your child’s vision and visual skills.

Can vision therapy help?

Vision is a learned skill that can be trained and strengthened, vision therapy is a program to develop the visual skills.

If a vision problem is at the root of your child’s reading difficulty, a vision therapy program can help.

A vision therapy program may help to improve your child’s visual skills and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed in reading and learning, and enjoy a lifetime of success.

Each vision therapy program is created to the individual needs of each child, and may include specialized lenses, prisms, filters, and eye exercises to help retrain the eye-brain connections and improve vision.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Vision and Learning Difficulties

If you think a vision problem may be affecting your child’s reading success, schedule an evaluation with a vision therapy eye doctor who can help strengthen their visual skills to improve reading fluency.

The post 2021 Update: Reading Fluency appeared first on Optometrists.org.

A common question asked by parents

Parents of school-age children who have struggled with reading and learning are often looking for answers to many questions.

Most likely the most frequent question asked by parents is, “Why does my bright child continue to have difficulty with reading fluency and paying attention in the classroom?”

To provide some direction, two years ago the VisionHelp Group interviewed educational specialist, Wendy Rosen, author of the book, ‘The Hidden Link Between Vision and Learning, Why Millions of Learning Disabled Children are Misdiagnosed’.

In her video, ‘Misdiagnosing Learning Disabilities’, Wendy mentions the diagnosis, “Convergence Insufficiency”, a binocular vision dysfunction usually associated with a reduced convergence ability and commonly identified with the Red/Green Penlight Near Point of Convergence (NPC) test.

This test which can be done in about 30 seconds is one tool in the optometrist’s use to evaluate a patient’s vision skills.

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School research published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology entitled: ‘Receded Near Point of Convergence is Not Diagnostic of Convergence Insufficiency’.

What they found was that the majority (89%) of post-concussed patients had a reduced near point of convergence (NPC).

Other results showed that these patients also had high incidence of;

1. Poor visual tracking (oculomotor dysfunction)
2. Reduced eye focusing problems (accommodative dysfunction) and
3. Difficulties with eye teaming and
4. Problems with focusing flexibility (binocular vergence/accommodative dysfunction)

The conclusions by the JAO Harvard researchers was that, “Because treatment options for the various oculomotor dysfunctions differ, it is prudent that these patients undergo a thorough examination of their vergence and accommodative systems so that an accurate diagnosis can be made and appropriate treatment prescribed.”

Complex visual problems should be addressed with a comprehensive evaluation process followed by a comprehensive model of treatment to meet the patient’s individual visual needs.

Vision Skills and Reading

Research shows that those children with vision-based reading and learning problems also have a high frequency of oculomotor, accommodative and binocular vergence/accommodative problems!

Therefore, the importance of assessing binocular vision skills, plus additional sensorimotor areas, is critical to assessing those children with reading and learning problems.

When the initial testing diagnosis identifies a reduced near point of convergence, it is essential to have a comprehensive sensorimotor and visual perceptual evaluation so that an accurate diagnosis can be made.

Vision Therapy

Once identified, as outlined by the American Optometric Association CPG-18, the best approach to treatment involves a comprehensive model of office-based vision therapy.

Vision therapy includes working one-on-one with a skilled vision therapist, sessions are typically 45-60 minutes, 1-2 times per week in-office with assigned home support activities.

Vision therapy should be provided in conjunction with lenses, prisms, and/or therapeutic tints prescribed and supervised by an experienced Doctor of Optometry in developmental vision and rehabilitation.

The post Is there a Link between Visual Skills and Reading? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

As vision is key to so many other systems, vision intervention, such as vision therapy, can have a profound effect on an autistic child.

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, contact an eye doctor near you, who can exam and strengthen your child’s visual skills.

SEE RELATED: Vision and Autism: Part 1

Benefits of vision therapy

Specific optical lenses, prisms, tints, and vision therapy are highly effective in treating patients on the autism spectrum.

The power of lenses and prisms should not be underestimated. The appropriately prescribed lenses and prisms can have immediate and profound effects on the total system and can contribute towards integrating the individual.

After a program of vision therapy, I routinely see immediate improvements in:

• Posture
• Language skills
• Eye hand and eye body coordination
• Visual skills

Often, I see a child that could not catch a ball, catch it easily, or one that did not speak, start engaging in conversation with the glasses on.

Signs vision therapy is needed

In addition to lenses and prisms, sometimes with or without tints, vision therapy is an important treatment for individuals with vision difficulties.

The most commonly observed signs, indicating that vision therapy could benefit a child include:

• Poor eye contact
• Repetitive hand movements
• Staring
• Side looking
• Light sensitivity
• Poor coordination
• Learning challenges

These above may be signs of inefficient or poorly developed visual skills.

A customized program of vision therapy provides the opportunity to develop these visual skills in a guided and therapeutic manner.

Examination of visual skills is essential

As an integrative optometrist, I recognize the impact a child’s functional visual skills has on their learning and enjoyment of every day tasks.

Assessment of the visual skills for all children on the autistism spectrum should include:

• Lazy eye
• Eye turns
• Focusing
• Eye teaming
• Eye tracking
• Convergence
• Stereopsis
• Visual processing

It is essential to assess vision in the context of nutrition, physical health, development, environmental and genetic factors, cognitive ability, motor, speech and language, and educational demands.

Autism and vision

Vision is a child’s dominant sense and much of the brain is dedicated to visual learning. 

The individual learns most efficiently in a multimodal fashion. That means that learning occurs best when inputs from different parts of the brain match.

In children with developmental delays, there is often a lack of cohesion between visual, auditory, and other inputs leading to the unusual behaviors, language, and socialization difficulties such as repetitive movements, echolalia or repeating words, and lack of eye contact.

Accurate assessment of the child in a vision examination includes looking at:

• Posture
• Balance
• Physical health
• Receptive and expressive speech patterns
• Cognitive understanding of the tasks given
• Motor coordination
• Attention and awareness

The functional vision examination gives essential information so that the appropriate intervention can be recommended.

LEARN MORE: Vision for Special Needs

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, contact an eye doctor near you, who can exam and strengthen your child’s visual skills.

The post Vision and Autism: Part 2 appeared first on Optometrists.org.

This year marks my 30th year as an optometrist and during all of those years I have seen thousands of children and adults on the spectrum from autism to learning disabilities.

I owe much of my early knowledge to Patty Lemer who introduced me to the Developmental Delay Registry, now reinvented as Epidemic Answers. I learned about the DAN! Network, Kelly Dorfman, Bernard Rimland, and Mel Kaplan’s work in the beginning of my career, even working for Mel primarily in the vision therapy room in the early 90’s.

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, contact an eye doctor near you, who can exam and strengthen your child’s visual skills.

SEE RELATED: Vision and Autism: Part 2

Autism by numbers

It is hard to believe that the rates of children diagnosed with autism in this country have grown from 1 in 2500 to almost 1 in 60!

We are looking at an epidemic that has dire consequences for our society.

We are guaranteed to come in contact with someone on the spectrum and Patty’s newest book, ‘Outsmarting Autism’, gives detailed and cutting edge ways to address factors associated with the exponential rise in autism rates and concrete treatment methods. Maria Rickert Hong’s book, ‘Almost Autism’, is also a good read for parents.

Autism and vision

Once a child has the appropriate support, I look at vision within the context of a multisensory model.

Vision is the dominant sense and much of the brain is dedicated to visual learning.

An individual learns most efficiently in a multimodal fashion. That means that learning occurs best when inputs from different parts of the brain match.

Learning occurs best when visual inputs match perspective inputs, for example, when we see an object and reach out to touch and feel it in the same place as where we saw it.

The same synchronicity of auditory and visual inputs occur when we see and hear something that matches. Think of the mismatch and confusion that happens when the soundtrack of a movie does not match the lip movements of the actors.

This sensory motor integration is critical for the proper development of a child.

In children with developmental delays, there is often a lack of cohesion between visual, auditory and other inputs leading to the unusual behaviors, language, and socialization difficulties such as:

• Repetitive movements
• Echolalia or repeating words
• Lack of eye contact

Accurate assessment of a child in a vision examination includes looking at posture, balance, physical health, receptive and expressive speech patterns, cognitive understanding of the tasks given, motor coordination, attention, and awareness.

The functional vision examination gives essential information so that the appropriate intervention can be recommended. 

The eye itself and how a child uses their vision can give clues on how to best treat the entire system.

Vision therapy for autism

Because vision is key to so many other systems, vision intervention, such as vision therapy, can have a profound effect on a child.

Specific optical lenses, prisms, tints, and vision therapy are highly effective in treating patients on the autism spectrum.

The most commonly observed signs indicating that vision therapy could benefit a child include:

• Poor eye contact
• Repetitive hand movements
• Staring
• Side looking
• Light sensitivity
• Poor coordination
• Learning challenges

A customized program of vision therapy provides the opportunity to develop these visual skills in a guided and therapeutic manner.

Examination of visual skills is essential

Determining the strength of the visual skills is a vital component of an eye examination for all children on the autism spectrum.

Children, especially, may be exposed to various stressors including biochemical, environmental, physical, social, educational and emotional challenges that impact development and learning.

Referral to health care practitioners can provide patients with the essential nutrition and recommendations to strengthen the immune system, balance hormones, and detoxify the body, from more traditional treatments to the latest ones which use more alternative medicine methodology.

It is essential to assess a child’s functional visual skills, as well as nutrition, physical health, development, environmental and genetic factors, cognitive ability, motor, speech and language, and their educational demands.

I am grateful for those who came before me and those colleagues that understand the importance of vision intervention in those on the spectrum.

LEARN MORE: Vision for Special Needs

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, contact an eye doctor near you, who can exam and strengthen your child’s visual skills.

The post Vision and Autism: Part 1 appeared first on Optometrists.org.