What is Vision Therapy?
To understand how Vision Therapy works, first we must understand the difference between sight and vision.
Imagine that you are standing on the edge of the road, waiting to cross the street and there is a car coming towards you. Sight is how clearly you can see the car, vision is how you process the visual information to determine if it’s safe to cross the road. You need to be able to accurately process many factors: How far away is the car? How fast it is approaching? How long will it take you to cross the road? Can you cross the street safely, or should you wait?
If your eyes are unable to accurately focus directly at the car, judge how far away it is from you, track the car’s movement, estimate the time it will take to get to you and process all of that information quickly, then crossing the road could result in injury or worse.
The visual skills needed to cross that road safely are the same skills your child needs for so many tasks in the classroom. If your child has difficulty focusing their eyes accurately to see the words on a page, or tracking their eyes along the lines of a book, or processing visual information, then reading and therefore so many parts of learning become much harder.
So how does Vision Therapy work?
Most of how and what we “see” happens in the brain, not the eyes. The brain directs our eye movements, processes the information that comes through the eyes and then makes decisions based on that information.
Vision Therapy is a brain-based therapy using a series of activities and exercises that allows a person to develop or rehabilitate important skills such as focusing, eye alignment and interpretation of visual information. It can help with reading, eye strain, blurred or doubled vision and headaches and more. You may notice benefits such as improved attention, efficiency and comfort during school or office work.
We would love to chat to you about how Vision Therapy can help you. You can find more information about Behavioural Optometry and Vision Therapy here. If you have any questions about our Vision Therapy Program you can contact me at vt@smnoptometrists.com.au, or call our Range Shopping Centre practice during office hours.
Johanna Baker
Vision Therapist
