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.

Reduced visual efficiency can negatively impact a person’s performance in school, at the office, and on the sports field, many times these children are labelled as dyslexic. Understanding and knowing what to look out for can help with early detection and treatment of visual problems.

What is visual efficiency?

Visual efficiency is understood by measuring how effectively the eyes work together as a team. 

The measurements of the eye’s teamwork are calculated based on the visual skills such as their ability to track across a page, converge, and focus. All these skills are essential for effective processing of visual information and for effective reading fluency.

1. Eye Tracking Problems

Eye tracking involves smooth and effortless movements of the eyes. Proper eye tracking helps us gather and scan information quickly from the environment around us, so that we can understand where we are and what our next move should be.

When eye movements are slower than normal, it may indicate an eye tracking problem. Three types of eye tracking problems are: difficulties with pursuits and saccades and fixation disparities.

Individuals with an eye tracking problem may:

• Easily lose their place while reading
• Have difficulty spelling
• Have poor hand-eye coordination
• Often skip lines when reading
• Omit or substitute words while reading.

Contact a vision therapy eye doctor who can help diagnose and treat any visual problems you may be experiencing, especially if your child has reading fluency difficulties.

SEE RELATED: Smart in Everything… Except School

2. Eye Teaming Problems

Your two eyes need to work in perfect unison and coordination in order to see the world in a clear and precise way. The images the brain creates may be uncomfortable or confusing when the eyes don’t function as a team.

Convergence insufficiency and convergence excess are two common eye teaming problems.

Convergence insufficiency occurs when the eyes find it difficult to focus inwards on an object, such as when reading or using a computer.

Convergence excess is the opposite: the eyes aren’t able to easily focus outward. This leads to difficulties with distance vision.

Symptoms of eye teaming problems include:

• Blurred or double vision
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty reading
• Headaches
• Poor depth perception
• Rubbing or squinting of the eyes
• Uncomfortable or tired eyes

3. Focusing Problems

Focusing problems occur when there are difficulties either changing focus from close to far and back again or maintaining focus, such as on a book or computer screen, for hours at a time.

Every time our eyes shift their gaze from one object to another, they accommodate, or change focus, so that each object appears clear. Focusing difficulties occur when the eye can’t relax and tighten or maintain position over an extended period.

Symptoms of focusing problems can include:

• Difficulty or avoiding reading
• Blurred vision
• Blurred vision when shifting focus from one object to another
• Frequent eye rubbing
• Holding objects close to the face in order to view them
• Headaches during or after reading
• Watery eyes

Other symptoms of visual efficiency problems include:

• Holding a book too close
• Uses finger pointing while reading
• Needing excessive time for homework
• Poor reading comprehension
• Slow reading
• Head tilting while reading
• Closing of one eye
• Clumsiness
• Words or letters moving, jumping, or running together when reading

Visual efficiency and vision therapy

Vision therapy helps to increase and strengthen the eye-brain connection, which is often weak in a person with visual efficiency problems and poor reading fluency.

A vision therapy program involves custom-made visual exercises that create new pathways in the visual system. By regularly performing these exercises patient’s will develop improved visual skills and may notice a significant reduction in their symptoms.

Vision therapy may also involve the use of specialized lenses, filters, or prisms to help relieve symptoms.

LEARN MORE:   Vision Therapy for Children

If you or your child experiences any of the symptoms mentioned above, contact a vision therapy eye doctor near you to have your vision evaluated.

The post 2021 Update: Vision Therapy for Visual Efficiency 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.

Poor visual skills can negatively impact performance in school, at the office, and on the sports field. Understanding and knowing what to look out for can help with early detection and treatment of visual problems.

Below are various visual efficiency problems and symptoms that are commonly diagnosed by eye doctors.

1. Eye teaming problems

Your two eyes need to work in perfect coordination and unison, in order to see the world in a clear and precise way. The images the brain creates may be confusing or uncomfortable when the eyes don’t function as a team.

Convergence excess and convergence insufficiency are two common eye teaming problems.

Convergence insufficiency refers to when the eyes have difficulty focusing inwards on an object that is being held closer to the nose. Convergence excess is the opposite, the eyes aren’t able to easily focus outward. This leads to difficulties with distance vision.

Symptoms of eye teaming problems include:

• Double or blurred vision
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty reading
• Eye rubbing or squinting
• Headaches
• Poor depth perception
• Tired or uncomfortable eyes

2. Eye tracking problems

Eye tracking involves effortless and smooth movements of the eyes. Proper eye tracking helps quickly gain information from and scan the environment around us to understand where we are and what our next move should be.

When eye movements are slower than normal, it may indicate an eye tracking problem. Three types of eye tracking problems are: deficiency or pursuits, deficiency of saccades, and fixation dysfunction.

Individuals with an eye tracking problem may:

• Have poor hand-eye coordination
• Easily lose their place while reading
• Often skip lines when reading
• Spelling difficulties
• Substitute or omit words

Contact an eye doctor who can help diagnose and treat any visual problems you may be experiencing. Vision therapy might be the solution you have been seeking.

SEE RELATED: How does Visual Efficiency affect Learning?

3. Focusing problems

Every time our eyes shift their gaze from one object to another, they accommodate their focusing power so that each object appears clear. When the muscles responsible for accommodating focus in the eye can’t relax, tighten or maintain position, focusing problems arise.

Symptoms of focusing problems can include:

• Avoiding or difficulty reading
• Blurred vision
• Blurred vision when shifting focus from one object to another
• Headaches during or after reading
• Holding objects close to the face in order to view them
• Frequent eye rubbing
• Watery eyes

Vision therapy can help

Vision therapy helps to strengthen and increase eye-brain connection, which is often weak in a person with visual efficiency problems.

A personalized vision therapy program involves custom-made visual exercises that create new pathways in the visual system. By regularly performing these exercises patient’s will develop improved visual skills and may notice a significant reduction in symptoms. Vision therapy may also involve the use of specialized lenses, filters, or prisms.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Vision Therapy

If you or a loved one experiences any of the symptoms mentioned above, contact an eye doctor near you to have your vision evaluated.

The post What Are Visual Efficiency Problems? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

While a cure for myopia has yet to be found, vision therapy can help by targeting certain factors that contribute to myopia (short-sighted).

If you think that vision therapy might be able to help you or your child, schedule your functional visual evaluation.

SEE RELATED: The Benefits of Outdoor Play for Children with Myopia

What is myopia?

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, causes distant objects to appear out of focus or blurry.

Myopia occurs when the eye grows too long, or the cornea and/or eye lens are too curved relative to the length of the eyeball.

Myopia can be controlled by a process known as Myopia Management.

Some signs and symptoms of myopia include:

• Holding books close to the eyes
• Blurry distance vision
• Reduced clarity of vision, compared to what others can see clearly
• Squinting when reading the board or watching TV
• Sitting at the front of the classroom to clearly see the teacher and board
• Sitting at close proximity to the TV or computer screen
• Disinterest in playing sports that require clear distance vision

If you or your child experiences any of these symptoms contact an eye doctor near to you.

Facts about vision therapy

Vision therapy is an evidence-based program designed to;

• Train the eyes and brain to work as a team
• Develop visual skills like accommodation, convergence, eye tracking, depth perception, teaming, focusing, visual processing and visual memory
• Be a safe and non-invasive set of visual exercises tailored to an individual’s specific needs
• Be fun and involve the use of specialized filters or prisms, balance beams, computerized aids and other therapeutic tools

Vision Therapy and Myopia

Vision therapy may not be able to treat or fully reverse myopia; however, some people may benefit from preventing or slowing down the progression of myopia.

Poor focusing skills have been linked to myopia, so many patients report that their myopia symptoms have improved during or after the vision therapy process.

Some vision therapists found this was a result of strengthening a visual skill called accommodation – the eyes’ ability to adjust focus as the distance between an individual and object changes.

A spasm of accommodation, also known as “pseudo-myopia,” occurs when the eyes lock their focus on a near object but then have difficulty releasing the focus to view distant objects. The reason this is considered a false myopia is because it involves  the focusing mechanism of the lens and not the elongation of the eye, a characteristic of true myopia.

However, pseudo-myopia can be treated with vision therapy, assuming the accommodation spasm was the only culprit for blurry vision at a distance. If that is the case, after a successful vision therapy program, the patient may no longer need to wear prescription lenses for vision correction.

Myopia management may be another option to discuss with your optometrist.

While the research on this subject is still ongoing, vision therapy may be able to improve a person’s blurry vision in many cases.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Pediatric Eye Conditions

If you or your child has myopia and you’re curious if vision therapy can help, schedule a functional visual assessment.

The post Myopia and Vision Therapy appeared first on Optometrists.org.

An athlete can improve their visual skills and boost their performance on the field with the help of sports vision training.

Binocular vision is the eyes’ ability to focus on an object to  create a single image, this is critical for achieving on the sports field.

Binocular vision allows us to perceive three-dimensional relationships and depth between objects or people, such as a ball or another player, making it an essential visual skill, especially for athletes.

Our two eyes sometimes fail to merge visual information into one cohesive image, a condition called binocular dysfunction.

As each eye is in a different position in relation to any object, the eyes communicate slightly different spatial information and send these varying images to the brain. The brain then uses the differences between the signals from the two eyes to accurately judge speed, distance and depth.

When binocular vision isn’t operating at maximum capacity, it impacts an athlete’s speed and the accuracy of their movement along with their reaction time.

Contact an eye doctor near you to start a vision training program to improve your visual skills.

SEE RELATED: Vision Therapy for Eye-Hand Coordination: Success Stories

If an athlete has reduced binocular vision it doesn’t mean that they are constantly fumbling or falling over. It just means that they may collide more often with other players, or misjudge the direction or velocity of a ball.

Sports vision training for athletes

Sports vision training is a customized program that improves the communication between a person’s eyes, brain and body.

Sports vision training helps athletes to react faster and process information more accurately, dramatically improving their game.

Athletes need to have exceptional visual skills, as sports are visually demanding. Athletes need to be able to focus, move fast and react quickly. Sports vision training can help improve all the visual skills an athlete needs to not only make a difference between winning and losing, but between staying safe and incurring an injury.

Even if an athlete has ‘20/20 eyesight’ they may still have reduced binocular vision. Sports vision therapy can help improve visual skills that already exist.

The ability to enhance an athlete’s sports vision skills is a proven way to improve performance.

Reduced binocular vision affects athletes

When our eyes and brain don’t work accurately together, particularly while playing sports, it can affect our reactions, accuracy, depth perception, speed, and timing.

Visual deficits slow down a player’s ability to process  and respond to what they see, and this may make it more difficult for them to catch a fly ball or judge the distance between them and the basketball hoop or goal post.

Visual skills needed for sports

Athletes need many visual skills to perform their best.

Binocular Vision – the ability to maintain focus on an object, creating a single image with both eyes. Without binocular vision, athletes cannot accurately measure depth and distance.

Saccades – rapid, quick, simultaneous eye movements between two or more stationary objects in the same direction. For athletes it’s important to be able to see stationary objects, such as a hoop at the end of the court.

Peripheral Vision – the ability to see movement and objects outside of your direct line of vision. This is important for athletes, especially when running down a field and being able to see other players coming at them from all directions.

Accommodation – the eyes’ ability to change their focus from near to distant objects and vice versa. For example, when a football player looks at other players coming toward them, then shifts focus to the ball on the field.

Smooth Pursuits – is the eyes’ ability to move smoothly, instead of the eye moving in jumps. It is a reflexive eye movement that is required when tracking an object through an environment, such as a flying ball.

Dynamic Visual Acuity – the ability to see when an object is still and the athlete is in motion or see a moving object when a player is stationary. It allows a player to visually discern detail in a moving object, such as a player’s number on a jersey.

Depth Perception – is the ability to distinguish the distance to, or between, objects. This is important for athletes when they need to interact with a moving object or hit an object.

LEARN MORE:  Guide to Sports Vision

Schedule an appointment with a vision therapy eye doctor to help you reach your sports goals.

The post Is Binocular Vision Important for Sports? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

If your child is the 1 out of every 4 children that is struggling in school, it could be their vision.

Children who struggle with school, or have a learning difficulty, and begin to fall behind their friends often become unmotivated to learn. 

With the help of a regular comprehensive eye exam by an eye doctor experienced in children’s vision and vision therapy, your child may not have to struggle anymore.

If you think your child may have a vision problem, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor as soon as possible. The Find an Eye Doctor directory lists eye doctors near you that provide vision therapy for children.

SEE RELATED: Harvard Statement: Vision and Literacy

Here are a few eye conditions that can significantly impact reading and learning;

Amblyopia (lazy-eye)

Amblyopia, commonly known as ‘lazy eye’ is a visual condition that affects over 3 in 100 children.

A lazy eye can make it quite difficult to read— causing loss of place, re-reading words, skipping words, substituting or misreading words, and adding words into sentences.

While this condition cannot be corrected with eyeglasses or contact lenses, with early detection and vision therapy, a child with amblyopia can achieve clear and comfortable binocular vision.

Convergence insufficiency 

Convergence insufficiency (CI) affects up to 17 percent of children and adults.

Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a common near-vision condition that affects the ability to learn, read, and work at near distances. This condition tends to manifest or worsen as the demands in school increase for reading and homework assignments.

According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), the most effective treatment for CI is in-office vision therapy.

Strabismus (crossed eyes)

Strabismus affects approximately 4 in 100 children in the United States. 

Strabismus occurs when the two eyes are unable to maintain proper alignment or focus together on an object— one eye looks directly at the object, while the other eye points in a different direction.

Strabismus can impact a child’s ability to read and concentrate during near-vision tasks due to the partial or total loss of stereo vision and binocular depth perception. This can result in fatigue and headaches, and severely impact a child’s academic performance.

Vision therapy is generally recommended to treat the eye turn, but in some cases surgery to realign the eyes may be recommended as well.

Focusing difficulties

Focusing skills allow a student to maintain and establish clear and comfortable vision while performing near-vision tasks, when switching focus between two distances is necessary.

Focusing difficulties can greatly harm a child’s academic success. Fortunately, focusing skills can be developed and strengthened with a program of vision therapy.

Eye-tracking difficulties

Eye-tracking difficulties can occur when the eyes’ movements are slow or irregular. It can significantly affect a student’s ability to learn, read, and even play sports.

Fortunately, this skill can be strengthened with in-office vision therapy.

How does vision therapy help?

Vision therapy is a fully customized treatment program designed to improve and strengthen visual skills. Vision therapy is more than just simple eye exercises.

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

If you think a vision problem may be making school difficult for your child, a vision therapy program may help to improve their visual skills and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed in school.

LEARN MORE:   Vision Therapy for Children

Schedule a functional vision evaluation with a developmental optometrist near you and give your child the chance to achieve success— both in the classroom and in the future.

The post Which Eye Conditions Can Affect Learning? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

If your child has 20/20 vision, it doesn’t mean they don’t have vision problems that are making school difficult and undermining their academic success.

When children get a vision screening at school, it measures their visual acuity — how well they see — and it’s usually very limited. It does not assess the visual skills necessary for learning, reading, and even athletics.

If you think your child may have a vision problem, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor as soon as possible. 

The Find an Eye Doctor directory lists eye doctors near you that provide eye exams and vision therapy for children.

SEE RELATED: Vision Therapy for 20/20 Vision: Success Stories

What is 20/20 vision?

The term ‘20/20 vision’ only means that you can see clearly at 20 feet away.

Visual acuity is measured by the clarity or sharpness of vision at a distance.

20/20 does not mean ‘perfect vision’, as a child with ‘20/20’ sight can still have other vision problems affecting their visual skills.

There are actually 17 key visual skills, including depth perception, color vision, eye coordination, focusing ability, peripheral vision, to name a few. These contribute to your ability to successfully perform many routine tasks and activities — reading, writing, driving, playing sports, and more.

Additionally, while some people can see well at a distance, they may have difficulty seeing images that are near. Others can see near objects clearly, but have difficulty seeing distant objects.

Is a vision screening test enough to determine a vision problem?

It’s important to know while your child’s school may conduct vision screenings, these screenings are very limited as they only test for vision acuity, and not vision problems. However, some vision problems may be detected.

Vision screenings should not be a substitute for a comprehensive eye examination performed by an eye doctor.

The vision chart used for screenings does not measure how well your child’s eyes are working for reading, writing, homework, computer use, and all other activities or tasks that require your child to use their visual skills.

It is critical for parents to understand that relying solely on school vision screenings may cause many complications for a child. These screenings can only uncover some vision problems, such as severe lazy eye or myopia, but cannot effectively identify most of the visual problems experienced by children.

A comprehensive eye exam at an eye doctor is the only effective measure of ocular and visual health. When vision problems are not detected in childhood, they can significantly affect a person throughout their life.

Vision problems can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or a program of vision therapy.

Signs of a vision problem

Parents and teachers should be aware of how to identify a vision problem.

The most common signs include:

• Bumping into objects
• Difficulty catching a ball
• Fatigue or headaches following prolonged near-vision tasks
• Frequently rubbing, closing or covering one eye
• Poor handwriting
• Reading avoidance
• Skipping words or lines while reading a text
• Squinting or tilting their head
• Struggling to remain focused
• Using a finger to keep their place while reading

When to see an eye doctor

If your child shows any of the above signs of a vision problem, it is important to schedule a comprehensive eye exam so their eye doctor can check their functional vision as soon as possible.

A functional vision problem can impact learning, athletics and even self-esteem. Identifying the vision problem and treating it early on can significantly reduce its effects.

Vision therapy is known to be a highly effective treatment for reduced functional vision. The aim of vision therapy is to strengthen the communication between the brain and the eyes to improve the visual skills and enable clear and comfortable vision.

Vision therapy can help your child to develop the visual skills necessary to succeed in school, sports, and all aspects of life.

LEARN MORE:   Vision Therapy for Children

Schedule a functional vision evaluation with an optometrist experienced in children’s vision and vision therapy, and give your child the chance to achieve success— both inside and outside the classroom.

The post Could a Child with ‘20/20 Sight’ Have a Vision Problem? appeared first on Optometrists.org.

When people think of reading glasses, they generally think of older adults with presbyopia— a condition that naturally occurs with age and requires the use of reading or computer glasses to see clearly.

Reading glasses for children, typically referred to as “low plus” lenses, are not prescribed for the same reason as they are for older adults, but rather to support the focusing skills necessary for near vision activities.

Low plus lenses are also called “support lenses” or “stress-relieving lenses”, as they help to reduce the amount of focusing effort required for reading, writing, computer use and even classroom learning.

Why do optometrists prescribe low plus lenses?

Your child’s optometrist may recommend low plus lenses for any of the following vision conditions:

• Farsightedness. Children who are farsighted often have difficulties seeing near objects and images clearly. As a result, their eyes need to exert extra effort to obtain clear vision while reading and performing other near vision tasks— often leading to eyestrain, headaches and fatigue.

Low plus lenses provide clear vision while supporting the eyes’ focusing muscles and reducing the amount of effort needed to maintain clear and comfortable vision.

• Focusing support. Children who have focusing difficulties often complain of headaches and eyestrain when performing near vision tasks, such as reading and computer work.

Low plus lenses lower the amount of focusing effort required, reduce the stress on the eyes and enable clear and comfortable vision.

If your child is reading below grade level, contact an eye doctor near you who can diagnose and treat any visual issues impacting your child.

SEE RELATED: How to Improve Your Child’s Reading Skills

Are there different types of low plus lenses?

Yes. A low plus lens can be prescribed as a single vision lens, bifocal or a multifocal lens.

A single vision lens contains a single power for either distance or near vision, while a bifocal or multifocal lens contains various powers for both distance and near vision.

Bifocal or multifocal lenses may be prescribed if your child already wears optical lenses for distance vision, but also requires low plus lenses to support their near vision.

Low plus lenses may also be prescribed in combination with prism lenses which help to further reduce the stress on the visual system.

Who can benefit from low plus lenses?

Recent research has shown that wearing low plus lenses while reading significantly reduces the strain on the visual system, while improving reading fluency, speed, intonation, and comprehension.

Low plus lenses can be a powerful support for children with focusing difficulties, reading or learning difficulties, attention issues, lazy eye and special needs.

Will my child always need reading glasses? 

No. As your child’s eyes develop and mature, their focusing skills will likely mature as well— eliminating the need for reading glasses.

Vision therapy can further improve your child’s focusing skills, along with any other visual skills that may need strengthening. Moreover, a program of vision therapy can help to reduce your child’s chances of needing reading glasses in the future.

LEARN MORE: Guide to Children’s Eye Exams

If you think your child can benefit from low plus lenses, schedule an eye exam with an optometrist. 

Through a comprehensive evaluation of your child’s vision and visual skills, your eye doctor can determine if low plus lenses can improve your child’s vision— to make reading and learning easier and more enjoyable.

The post How Do Reading Glasses Help Children? appeared first on Optometrists.org.