What is Vision Therapy?

“Vision” involves much more than simply seeing the standard “20/20.” Although having annual comprehensive eye exams is important, most routine eye exams will not evaluate vital skills such as eye teaming, eye tracking, eye focusing, and visual perception. Binocular vision problems can have a major impact on a child’s reading or learning ability (see video below for examples of how some children see in a classroom!)

Vision therapy is an office-based program of eye exercises that treats certain binocular vision disorders. Research has shown that vision therapy can be instrumental in improving ocular signs and symptoms of binocular vision disorders such as Convergence Insufficiency.

The first step of a vision therapy program is a thorough binocular vision consultation with one of our doctors. Our doctors have extensive experience treating binocular vision disorders in patients of all ages.

One common area of confusion is that vision therapy treats learning problems directly. Although vision therapy treats underlying vision problems that cause discomfort and difficulty when reading or learning, vision therapy does not directly treat learning disabilities.

Optocize was featured on the Easton Cable Access show "Discover Easton”. Take a look at some of the highlighted segments!

  • The number of vision therapy office visits depends on the diagnosis and the age of the patient. Vision therapy programs typically involve one office session per week, for at least 15 weeks. Patients are also expected to practice home exercises in addition to office visits. The doctor will discuss the expected timeline of a patient’s vision therapy program at the initial binocular vision consultation.

  • At the binocular vision consultation, the doctor will perform an extensive evaluation on skills such as eye teaming, eye tracking, eye focusing, and visual perception. Based on the specific diagnosis, the doctor will determine if vision therapy is recommended or not. If vision therapy is not recommended, the doctor will discuss other treatment options.

  • If you or your child have difficulty with any of the following, a binocular vision evaluation may be beneficial:

    • Eyestrain or headaches with schoolwork or computer use

    • Intermittent blurry vision

    • Double vision or words moving on a page

    • Rubbing or closing an eye when reading or doing near work

    • Skipping words or lines when reading

    • Not reading at grade level

    • Holding books or reading material too close or tilting/turning head to read

    • Difficulty with reading comprehension

    • Prefer being read to

    • Overall avoidance of near tasks

    • Poor attention span

    • Difficulty finding objects or navigating through space

    • Difficulty catching a ball

Frequently Asked Questions