Vision Therapy at Home

According to the Optometrist’s Network, there are a disturbing amount of children who have been misdiagnosed with a variety of different learning disabilities. Often, medication or remedial education is recommended, until someone knowledgeable about functional vision problems steer parents toward an evaluation by a qualified developmental optometrist. In many cases, it is not a learning disability that has been plaguing these children, but a functional vision problem.

When advised of this, parents have implemented vision therapy in conjunction with home vision therapy with great success. The testimonials received have affirmed when a functional vision problem is corrected, many times children previously diagnosed with a learning disability have improved and even excelled in their class, completing homework and reading at a level that until now, had been out of reach.

The frustration for both parents and students can be quite stressful and even life-changing. Doug and his parents struggled for years with his reading problems, until evaluated by a specialist in developmental vision problems. He was diagnosed with functional vision problems and treated with vision therapy, and his parents are overjoyed at the changes. “Vision Therapy has changed our lives”, says Jane Mortenson, Doug’s mother. “With the functional vision problem corrected, it gave us a foundation on which to start remedying the learning skills Doug had missed along the way.” Doug is now taking college prep courses and doing great.

Over and over, parents have described the frustration level of their children, affecting the entire family and inspiring fear their child will be labeled as having a learning disability, which could affect a child’s entire educational career. They describe children who are angry, surly, and struggling with tasks so easy for their peers. When properly diagnosed with a functional vision problem and vision therapy is implemented, the improvement has been impressive and a big relief.

“When Alyson was initially evaluated for Vision Therapy, she was not reading for pleasure at all; it was too frustrating, slow, and straining to her eyes. She felt she was “not smart enough.” She also had regular headaches,” says Patty Seitz Butter, Alyson’s parent. “Alyson noted improvement in her reading ability from early on in her Vision Therapy program. By the end, she was truly enjoying it! Her writing, spelling, and self-esteem all improved!” The only regret Patty has, she said, is they didn’t start vision therapy sooner.

It is difficult for a parent to fight a learning disabled diagnosis from the experts. However, unless the evaluation has included a thorough examination for functional visual problems, it may be a good idea to ask more questions and seek better answers than a misdiagnosis of a learning disability and inappropriate treatment. Vision therapy under the supervision of a qualified specialist in conjunction with home vision therapy can make a huge difference in the life of a child – and the whole family.

Owing to the high level of discomfort and embarrassment it causes, bedwetting -“nocturnal enuresis”- is often a well-kept secret that no parents or bedwetting children wish to talk about. However, it is a common problem that affects millions of young children including teens. While bedwetting is attributed to several factors, there is evidence that proves that it is linked to the ‘Spinal Galant Reflex’ (described later) which can also affect a child’s vision.

Qualified, continence advisors and doctors neither advise nor administer medication or treatment before a bedwetting child attains the age of 7.  Remediation of retained reflexes, an in-office and home program to integrate retained reflexes, and a safe method to control bedwetting, may be considered.

Bedwetting Symptoms

A bedwetting child will demonstrate one or more of the following symptoms that any observant parent can easily detect:

• Daydreaming
• Irritability and grumpiness on waking up
• Lack of concentration and focus
• Snoring and grinding of teeth during sleep
• Inability to retain urine
• Frequent urination during daytime

Bedwetting Causes

Bedwetting is also attributed to one or more factors, some of which are listed below:

• Abnormally small bladder
• Slow maturity of bladder-controlling nerves
• Deficiency in the hormone that lowers urine buildup at night
• Psychological causes, stress in particular
• ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

The ‘Spinal Galant Reflex’ Link with Bedwetting

The ‘Spinal Galant Reflex’ affects total and homo-lateral (same side) body movements in pre/post-natal infants. It evolves after conception, specifically, at 20 weeks and extends to the time of birth. However, it is essential to inhibit the Spinal Galant reflex in infants between the ages of 3 and 9 months after birth, as it can lead to a variety of problems later.

The technique/s to inhibit the Spinal Galant reflex is both carried out in an in-office Vision Therapy program, and then explained to parents so they can continue to practice the technique at home. Problems that infants and young children may face if the Spinal Galant reflex persists after 9 months, include:

• Bedwetting, owing to inability to control the bladder
• Continuous fidgeting and inability to still
• Short-term memory loss
• Poor levels of attention and concentration
• Improper posture
• Spinal curvature (scoliosis)

Primitive Reflex Training at Home Can Treat Bedwetting

The intertwining link between retained reflexes, especially the Spinal Galant reflex, and bedwetting may sound strange. However, the truth is primitive reflex training is an effective program for treating bedwetting problems in young children, especially those in whom the Spinal Galant reflexes were not inhibited before reaching 9 months in age. Inhibiting the Spinal Galant reflex in young children is a part of a primitive reflex training ‘reinforcement’ program at home.   If retained, it can affect control of the urinary bladder, especially at night – one of the causes of bedwetting.

The technique to activate the Spinal Galant reflex in a Primitive Reflex Training program at home is quite easy. It is achieved by running a stiff finger or round-edged pointer on either side of the child’s lower spine to stimulate the area. If a retained Spinal Galant reflex is present, it will manifest itself when the hip of the child (positioned on hands on knees) flexes or curls towards the side stimulated.  However, sometimes even if the reflex does not appear to be present through this testing, the reflex may still be retained and reflex training can help.  Through a sustained primitive reflex training program at home, the Spinal Gallant reflex can be inhibited, ultimately leading to sudden and total disappearance of bedwetting.

So, if persistent, bedwetting has kept your child away from summer holiday camps or sleepovers … put the brakes on it through a primitive reflex training program. After all, why should he or she miss out on the fun?

For a better understanding about the link between bedwetting and Vision Therapy, link up with, www.visual-dynamix.com.

This post is a continuation of the post “Why Vision Therapy Can Keep Our Kids From Failing in School (Part 1)”.

The Life of a Child in 2010

Whether their mothers work outside of the home or not, parents are very afraid to let their children play outside unsupervised because of the threat of child abduction. Because of this fear and because more activities are available to families outside of the home today, any movement activities are generally very structured and require little experimentation or spontaneity.

Kids spend most of their time at home watching television or DVD’s when they are not playing video games. These children do not development good laterality or visual-motor abilities because they are not moving as much and what movement is done is very structured and planned.

They are also not developing good visualization skills because the images are coming into their brains from the screen rather than being created in their brains and then played out in the real world.

Even in the normal visual developmental sequence, a child does not become visually mature and dominant until he or she is at least five to six years of age. Since this is the time that children today are required to start reading in most cases, it’s imperative that good visual development takes place before they enter school.

If their general and visual development is behind due to the factors listed above, they will not be visually competent by the time they are required to perform the complex visual task of reading. If the child is not visually dominant when they are required to read, spell, and perform math problems, they will have to use another sensory system (called “deflecting) to process the visual input which decreases their competency in all of these areas.

Fortunately, these visual problems can be remediated with a program of vision therapy which is offered by developmental optometrists all over the world. Vision therapy trains the brain to perform visual functions such as tracking, eye-teaming, focusing, and visual processing correctly when visual system development was delayed or interrupted for any reason.

When children undergo a vision therapy program, their parents usually find that the child not only performs as well as their peers in school, but they often excel beyond that due to exceptional visual abilities developed during therapy.

Since our culture is not going to change back to that of the 1960’s, the need for vision therapy will continue to grow. Therefore, it is important that children who are struggling in school have a complete functional vision examination by a developmental optometrist to determine if vision therapy is right for them. If so, it will change their lives.

Reasonably good, if not perfect, vision is indispensable to success in every facet of one’s life. Unfortunately, there is a significantly large number of people who suffer from one form of vision problem or another.

Vision therapy is prescribed because certain vision problems cannot be completely resolved by the use of contact lenses or glasses alone. This is why a sustained program of vision therapy is an effective alternative and one that is highly recommended by qualified optometrists today.

Understanding Vision Therapy

Vision therapy is basically a progressive, in-office or at-home program that is specifically designed to address perceptual-cognitive and/or visual-motor deficiencies in people affected by various vision problems. Vision therapy sessions are tailored to an individual’s specific vision problem and supervised by highly qualified developmental optometrists. However, to determine whether or not a candidate requires vision therapy, the first step taken is a comprehensive examination and evaluation carried out by a qualified developmental optometrist.

What Vision Therapy Involves

In –office vision therapy sessions are held in an office, under close supervision and monitoring of a qualified developmental optometrist with each lasting for approximately an hour. These sessions are held on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. However, the total duration of a vision therapy program is dependent on the specific nature of each case and can extend from a number of months to more than a year.

A typical vision therapy session involves the following:
• A series of in-office/at-home eye exercises and vision-improving/enhancing techniques and skills
• Highly advanced computer software programs
• Optical filters
• Goggles and eye patches
• Visual-motor-sensory integration training

However, the use of some advanced optical devices involved in a vision therapy session is regulated, among them:

• Prism lenses
• Corrective lenses
• Therapeutic lenses

To reinforce the visual skills acquired during vision therapy sessions, vision therapists prescribe supplementary vision-improvement techniques and exercises that must be practiced at home, specifically, during the period between office visits.

Benefits of Vision Therapy

In addition, vision therapy sessions are specifically designed to augment the brain’s capability to facilitate control; over common vision problems. This is achieved through a program of visual exercises and technique which deliver benefits that include:

• Maintaining precise eye alignment
• Improving all-round eye movement
• Augmenting focusing ability
• Raising visual processing ability
• Facilitating overall visual efficiency, comfort and ease

Candidates for Vision Therapy

Vision therapy does not target any particular age group because vision problems are a common occurrence among all groups of people – young children, adults and the elderly. Vision therapy is highly effective because of its proven ability to treat a diverse range of vision problems that different people face. Some of the main vision problems that afflict both children and adults and which can be treated effectively through vision therapy sessions include:

• Vision impairment or “lazy eye”(Amblyopia)
• Abnormal alignment in one or both eyes (Strabismus)
• Visual problems induced by stress.
• Vision problems caused by nature of work or environmental conditions
• Learning-related visual deficiencies
• Improper binocular coordination (eye teaming)

While vision therapy can, to a great extent, treat and cure many vision problems, it is imperative to seek optometric attention as soon as you experience some form of visual difficulty. The consequences of neglect can be substantial in physical, economic and social terms. In most cases, early intervention through vision therapy can indeed save one of the most precious gifts given to you … the gift of vision.

For a wealth of information on vision therapy, www.visual-dynamix.com is a great place to start.

There are several signs that can reveal whether or not your child may need vision therapy. Of course, this will depend on the specific nature and severity of the vision problem/s that your child may have. However, while some conspicuous symptoms of poor or impaired vision in your child will be easy to recognize, there are those more subtle in nature that may be a little harder to detect.

Things to Consider:

1.  WHY Vision Therapy is so important

2.  WHAT it has to offer

3.  The signs of vision problems in your child that (may) necessitate the use of this effective program.

Why is Vision Therapy So Important?

People who respond positively to their optometrists’ advice to seek vision therapy for their children are those that believe in the popular adage – “prevention is better than the cure”. Vision therapy lends much credence to this line, precisely because it is a non-surgical therapy that involves a number of eye exercises, advanced optometric devices and vision-enhancing techniques.  All of these techniques have the ability to address and cure any common vision problem your child may have. If your child undergoes vision therapy sessions early on, this will significantly limit progressive worsening of the problem and will, in most cases, eliminate the need for invasive surgery altogether.

According to reports, vision therapy assumes even more importance. According to one published recently by the New Jersey Commission on Business Efficiency of the Public School, early reading difficulties in children are caused by undiagnosed/untreated ‘vision-specific’ learning problems. Other alarming statistics shown by reports suggest that “convergence insufficiency” (improper eye alignment) affects a minimum of 1 in 20 school-going children, while undiagnosed vision problems affect in excess of 60% of these children, all of whom face vision-related learning problems.

What Can Vision Therapy Offer Your Child?

Contrary to what some may tell you, vision therapy offers several benefits that can help to treat almost all common vision problems your child may possess and which do not require surgical intervention. The most common vision problems – one or more of which your child may have and which vision therapy is designed to address are:

• Double vision
• Amblyopia (“lazy eye”)
• Convergence insufficiency
• Crossed eyes
• Strabismus (irregular eye alignment)
• Reading and learning difficulties

8 Signs Of Vision Problems To Look For

Although this may appear to be a difficult task, paying close attention when your child is at work, study or play can help you detect the subtle signs of visual discomfort, that can fortunately be treated by a visual therapy program.

The most common tell-tale signs of vision problems that may be affecting your child, specifically, those that could limit his or her ability to read and study, are:

• Abnormally long time taken when doing homework
• Interpreting letters such as ‘b’ as ‘d’ while reading or writing
• Display of poor reading/writing/spelling ability
• Re-reading or skipping of lines when reading
• Short attention spans when doing schoolwork or reading
• Blurriness and headaches
• Display of frustration with schoolwork
• Abnormal mood swings

The most responsible decision you can make as a parent is to seek an early developmental optometric diagnosis as soon as your child displays one or more of these signs. After a thorough evaluation of such symptoms, a qualified developmental optometrist will be in a position to confirm whether or not the particular signs your child displays may need vision therapy.

Remember, good vision is critically important for your child’s success in life. As a responsible parent, YOU have an equally important role to play and make that happen.

To learn more about how vision therapy can benefit your child, take time out to visit www.visual-dynamix.com.

Vision therapy (or visual therapy) and visual learning programs are quickly gaining recognition because they have been proven effective in treating adults and children with vision and learning-related problems. Common vision-related problems are caused by a number of factors such as genetics, fatigue or even certain medications.  Learning problems are attributed to various factors as well and poor or impaired vision can play a key role.

The following information can demonstrate the difference between visual therapy and visual learning, while helping you gain a better understanding of both.

Are the two programs similar in any way?

Visual therapy and visual learning are two distinctly different programs, each with their own set of techniques and objectives.  Vision therapy deals with a patient’s entire visual system.  Specifically, neurological control system of the eyes, visual learning is a style of teaching and learning where candidates attempt to associate images and techniques with data, concepts and other pieces of information.

However, the common aspect that binds the two programs is that both impart vision-improving and visual learning skills and techniques and can be easily practiced at home. Of course, one can safely conclude that both therapies are complementary to one another.

Why are the two programs so important?

With millions of professionals and students spending several hours on the computer or doing other close-up work every day, the incidence of vision problems has dramatically risen around the world. Also the dramatic rise in the number of people living with dyslexia and other learning-related disabilities – significant causes of learning problems, especially among young children and teenagers.

Today, vision therapy and visual learning is prescribed by professional optometrists as the therapies of choice.  They can address both vision and learning problems with a great degree of success. This is precisely why the two programs are so important and why millions of people are turning to them for help.

What is involved in a vision therapy session?

In a vision therapy session, adults and children suffering with common vision-related problems are taught a variety of eye exercises under the supervision and monitoring of a professional optometrist. These exercises are simple and patients are strictly advised to reinforce the vision-improving skills and techniques they learn during such sessions by practicing them at home. A typical vision therapy session is held in an optometrist’s office once or twice a week, each lasting for about 30 minutes to an hour. The common vision problems that vision therapy address include – amblyopia (lazy eye); strabismus (crossed eyes); convergence insufficiency (double vision), and a variety of other non-acute eye disorders.

What has visual learning got to offer?

The techniques used in classroom or home-based visual learning programs are specifically designed to boost critical thinking, strengthen retention (memory) power; increase levels of comprehension, and help with organizational skills. These techniques include the use of concept and idea maps; graphs and graphic organizers; illustrations; plots and more.

Research conducted on the effectiveness of visual learning techniques among students found that they could easily recall information which was presented both verbally and visually. Secondly, students with prior knowledge were seen to be in a better position to comprehend new concepts. Lastly, research also revealed that students demonstrated better organizational skills by featuring high levels of information through simple, easy-to-understand diagrams.

To get the big picture on vision therapy and visual learning, www.visual-dynamix.com is the site to see.