How Vision Therapy Can Help School-Aged Children
Filed under: Optometry
As much as 80% of what a child learns involves the use of their eyes. Observing, reading, writing, playing, and more are all part of their daily visual learning tasks. If a child’s vision is even mildly impaired, they may experience problems that result in stress, anxiety, and poor outcomes in their school, sport, and social activities. Left uncorrected, the problem will only get worse as the demands on their visual abilities only increase over time.
What is Vision Therapy?
Personalized vision therapy is a form of visual training typically done under the guidance of a qualified optometrist. It can help patients to improve their visual-motor skills, as well as perceptual-cognitive skills through a program of customized exercises intended to strengthen eye-tracking, coordination, and focusing. The stated goal of vision therapy is to train the brain to better utilize the eyes to effectively receive, process, and respond to information.
Signs to Look For
Undeveloped visual skills can manifest in learning and behavioral deficiencies. Children who struggle with vision problems are liable to consistently avoid reading or near fieldwork. If they do attempt to do the work, they may not comprehend it, or will be abnormally slow to accomplish the task. They may feel uncomfortable, tired, or irritable. They might experience blurred or double vision, eyestrain, and headaches. When reading from a book, they may skip or frequently re-read lines, lose their place easily, or struggle to differentiate between similar letters. Some may show signs of hyperactivity and distraction which could lead to an improper diagnosis of ADHD.
Although not all learning and behavior problems can be explained by vision problems, it’s worth investigating and correcting any functional eyesight issues that are present. At the very least, it will eliminate one problem in pursuit of solutions for other concerns. But for some kids, vision therapy alone can do wonders to help them succeed in scholastic learning and life.
Support When You Need It
If you’ve noticed any potential signs that your child is struggling with their visual skills, it never hurts to get it checked out. Visit us for a consultation today with one of our local eye doctors: Dr. Gio Venitelli and Dr. Katie Dugan of Temecula and Murrieta Creek Optometry. We offer two locations: Murrieta office at (951) 600-9226 or Temecula office at (951) 302-1331.
