Vision Training
Optometric Vision Care

 

 

 


 

Vision Training - Therapy

Vision Therapy is a step-by-step developmental program designed to provide patients with the necessary meaningful experiences to acquire full use of their visual process. Vision Therapy is based on Piagetian principles of learning, in which a series of graded problems are presented to a child under very controlled circumstances and then practiced for reinforcement.

Some of the areas of Vision Training application, are:

  • Binocular (two eyes working together) Dysfunctions: convergence insufficiency, focusing (accommodative) dysfunction, eyes coordination problems etc. [+more]
  • Strabismus (squint) and Amblyopia (lazy eye) 
  • Learning Related Vision Problems, Reading and writing problems
  • Acquired Brain Injuries
  • Neuro-Developmental Disorders
  • Sports Vision

  

The program of Vision Training or Vision Therapy is designed according to the age, the visual weaknesses and the visual needs of the patient. Generally a program involves:

  • Training for eyes coordination, convergence and focusing skills
    Usually, weaknesses in this area of eyes coordination and focusing may interfere with the acquisition of information through the eyes and impede learning. Many symptoms like headaches, double vision, eyes strain etc, may affect the child's motivation to read, write or stay focused on a task for a long period of time. Adults can also experience these symptoms while reading or doing computer work. The optometrist uses many tools to guide the person to learn to use his eyes in a more coordinated manner. Lenses, prisms, stereoscopes, polaroid vectograms, computer games, biofeedback instruments are some of those tools.
  • Training for accurate eyes fixations
    Eye movements are related to reading, copying, writing, playing sports etc. It is the ability of the child to collect through the eyes visual information from many different locations in space as well as two dimensional surfaces like the book or blackboard. In order to do this an intact oculomotor system is needed; "how accurate can I move my eyes in space so I can derive meaning and direct action quickly and effectively?" "where am I on the book and where do I go next?"
    Eye movement weaknesses can be developmental in nature (usually existing together with poor body awareness) or functional (when affected by cognitive overload, exp. reading). According to the type of the weakness different remediation programs (Vision Training) are followed. Generally the training involves body awareness activities, eye-hand coordination, changing fixation in space while reading numbers, electronic lightboard activities (WSF), kinaesthetic feeling of the eyes, peripheral awareness, trampoline jumps while reading number charts and many more. 
  • Training for Visual Motor Coordination
    The visual motor process is very complex. Many different systems of human perception and sensing are involved. Most of those systems are purely visual while other involve vision only partially. During the entry phase of a Vision Training program the child learns the basic visual motor integration. The eyes lead the hands through various activities in open space, using bean bags, electronic pens, electronic lightboards, chalkboard, rotators, balls and many more. The next phase involves the ergonomics of writing: body posture, paper positioning, use of pencil grip, coordination between all.
    Visual Spatial and visual perception skills are very important for the understanding of space on paper, how to stay on lines, how to keep good spacing between words, how to keep size constancy etc. Many activities for these skills are done in parallel with the fine motor and finger control exercises during the last phase of the program.
  • Training for body awareness and body position in space
    Knowing where you are in space is essential for successful movement as well as any direction of action with a visual guidance. There are many excersises that gives to child the necessary meaningful experience to learn coordinate and control movement better. Balance board, walking rail, trampoline, metronome are some of the equipment used in a Vision Training office. [Cases with extremely weak body awareness or other type of neuro-muscular weaknesses are refered for Occupational Therapy]
  • Multi-sensory training and parallel processing
    Many children have difficulty integrating two or more senses together. They may have difficulty hearing, seeing and acting at the same time. Several Vision training activities are multi-sensory as the child sees, listens, and acts at the same time. For example, the child jumps on the rhythm of a metronome to the direction of the arrows on a chart he sees. Multi-sensory training stimulates attention and sensory integration. Parallel processing reduces the errors of omission, "the information was there but the child missed it". Many children with reading difficulties have their attention window so narrow that they read with errors (substitutions of words, confusing endings of words, etc).
  • Training for Laterality - Directionality
    Learning the difference between right and left side of the body without relying on low level clues (exp. I write with my right) is a real challenge. The most efficient way to understand and learn the directional concepts is through body kineasthetic feeling and movement in space. When the child learns those concepts he is ready to learn how those concepts are projected in space (directionality), meaning, he is able to understand that the right and left side of a room is changing according to his position into the room.
  • Training for Visual Thinking skills
    Vision is the dominant process. Through vision we choose, we compare, we distinguish, we group information from the worls around us. The school environment is highly demanding on vision. The child must have the appropriate visual skills to be able to derive meaning and direct action accureately and effortessly. He must be able to understand information fast, to distinguish similar looking shapes, to transfer information on paper and "place" them correctly on it, to understand the spatial relations of things in space, to hold visual information in memory etc.
    The child with a weak visual perception process will face difficulties in most of those actions. Vision training gives to the child the necessary meaningful experience to learn how to scan, select and hold visual information fast. For example, many hours are spend into the training room and at home with the child seeing, holding in mind and drawing visual shapes that are projected only for a split if a second. Series of numbers, letters and words are also used. Other activities are: geoboards, parquetry blocks, cuisenaire rods, tangrams, scanning workbooks, mazes and line tracings etc.
  • Training Visualization and Visual Imagery
    Visualization is the internal picturing of an individual. There are different degrees to which a person may or may not be aware of their internal pictures.
    Visual Imagery involves the ability to rehearse, to recreate, or to predict scace and time relationships without an underlying narrative as its basis.
    Both skills are very important for learning. Reading comprehension, spelling, geometry, math, are just a few examples where these skills are used. There are many procedures and activities for the reinforcement of these skills in children as well in adults. Afterimages, tachistoscope, rotating pictures and blocks, tangrams, visualization dialog, back drawing, mystery bag are just a few.

 

 

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