How Does Vision Therapy Work?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2010
- www.greatvisioncare.com Vision therapy is a series of eye exercises designed to improve the functioning and efficiency of the visual system. We start with exercises that are simple and fairly easy, and then gradually progress to more challenging and complicated tasks. Each vision therapy program is individually tailored to meet the needs of the patient. Vision therapy can be used to treat such conditions as convergence insufficiency, strabismus (eye turn in or out), amblyopia (lazy eye), and oculomotor dysfunction (tracking problem). Also, many children diagnosed with ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, and dyslexia have functional vision problems that interfere with learning, and can benefit from proper treatment.
PS - make sure the doc you see does a lot of vision therapy. Ask how many patients do they have in therapy at any given time and how many cases they have completed. Experience does count.
Great video explaining Vision therapy goals so clearly & easy to understand format! Many patients now prefer youTube explanations, instead of leaflets, in addition to usual in office demonstrations. Hoping to pass on to colleagues Down Under & likely to show patients too. Thank you!
Thank goodness that TH-cam keeps these videos available for years. The difficulty is finding them. Thanks for posting it originally! Unfortunately you are in the US and we are in England.
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I am in the US, but I have colleagues in the UK who also do vision therapy. Do you know what the visual problem is or what the symptoms are? Is it convergence insufficiency? Vision problems post-concussion? Or what?
@@johnabbondanza830 @John Abbondanza Thank you for your generosity in making reply. The patient is my grandson just turned 7 last month October 2021, lives in Manchester, England. He (excuse my pretended expertise) developed strabismus in his first couple of years and was prescribed strong +2? magnifying eye glasses, and was diagnosed with left eye weakness, with the eye turning in towards his nose.
Constant wearing of glasses plus patching the weak left eye for four hours each day was prescribed (but initially not followed rigourously) and followed with more enthusiasm as he became more mature and cooperative.
He is an out patient at a Manchester Hospital. The strength of the weak eye had increased considerably following the long term daily patching of the strong eye and patching was advised to be discontinued, as no further improvement was to be expected.
At last I reach the point! (Thank you for your patience.) Although he has no strabismus we can see when he is wearing his glasses, he now reports double vision. The hospital has restored single vision by putting a semi-opaque "fogging" film over the lens of his weak (left) eye, and they propose to disable the weak eye by downgrading the eye glasses prescription. They say that if disfiguring strabismus develops they will operate to correct it for cosmetic purposes, but for the rest of his life he will be effectively one eyed but "cured" of the double vision he is reporting.
At the moment he can see single images through his left eye alone, and equally he can see single images through his right eye alone, but using both eyes together gives him double vision. Obviously he has strabismus but to us the movement and alignment of his eyes is entirely natural. Following my study of excellent generously provided videos such as yours my feeling is that it is not strabismus he is suffering so much as convergence insufficiency. We fear though that deliberately disabling one eye to "cure" double vision will result in amblyopia and strabismus soon after.
There is no mention of Vision Therapy at the hospital, and I am getting the feeling that the establishment considers such practitioners as inferior snake oil salesmen claiming to undo irreversible lack of eye-brain development that should have taken place in the first few months of life.
We feel that we should at least try Vision Therapy (snake oil or not) to attempt to fix the convergence insufficiency to eliminate double vision before the brutal alternative of the deliberate disabling of one perfectly good eye to achieve single vision.
The only snag is that you are two thousand or more miles away, and we don't know how to find a trusted Vision Therapy practitioner in Manchester, England. (There are no doubt some snake oil salesmen only too willing to make promises they cannot fulfill). Bear in mind that the official opinion is that if full 3D stereoscopic vision has not been achieved as a baby, it can never be achieved. That is the current teaching.
Thanks for being positive and explaining it well
Amazing video! So simple yet complete and provide good info along with amazing in-office examples! :D
Yes, I'm certainly having a difficult time. I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on 5/20/2011. Nearly took my life. My neuro surgeon, Mohammed Y. Beck. MD stated that it was my will to live that pulled me through.
My optometrist suggest vision therapy today in my appointment. She says that it my help to lower the prism in my current prescription so I can finally have contacts.
Thank you for your question Sarah. Yes, doing vision therapy can treat an eye turn (strabismus), whether it turns out (exotropia) or in (esotropia). Generally speaking, most patients notice changes by 10 weeks or so, though a full treatment can take 6 months or more. To find a doctor who does vision therapy, check out the 'find a doctor' section at covd.org or oepf.org. Good luck.
Can vision therapy help nystagmus
Typically, vision therapy can help with functional vision problems like convergence insufficiency (an eye teaming problem) or a tracking problem or headaches/eyestrain at the computer. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disease affecting the retina, so vision therapy would not be expected to help RP.
@DrJohnAbbondanza thanks once again, i will keep you updated with how my therapy sessions are going
Thank you for sharing this info.
- Juan 27 ( left sided homonymous hemianopsia and loss of central vision in right eye due to macular degeneration.)
hartkeline Difficult situation. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.
Dr. John Abbondanza
I am 60. I began wearing glasses for nearsighted at around age 10. I began wearing progressive lenses 10 or so years ago. I noticed double vision at distance 5-6 years ago, was sent for blood work and MRI to rule out underlying problem (nothing found) so I was prescribed base out prism in my glasses. Now I have to remove my glasses for close reading. I have read that grinding prism into a progressive lens is difficult. Maybe if I had double vision at any distance, my prescription wouldn’t be impossible to make. Would vision therapy help me overcome the double vision, so I could see well out of progressive lenses? I have also suffered migraines and light sensitivity since childhood.
My pleasure. Please Post these videos on your website, your facebook and twitter accounts, send them to your friends and colleagues, etc. It is time we got the word out!
is there any provision to do Vt online?
Does brock string helps to cure convergence insufficiency?
Can vision therapy help with oscillopsia and nystagmus?
Hi sir Hru my right is damaged by examiner lesser. I can see from right eye. I'm asking you can I improve my blind eye by any therapy pls guide me
they told me that i don't have any symptom and my eyes is healthy. and as for activities they recommend me to do some pencil push ups and roll your eyes in clock-wise n counter clockwise. he also told me that my nervousness and stress might be the cause the reason why i can't control my eye movement.
Well the eye will the Vertical Squint gets tired during the day, and the misalignment occurs and I see different alignments of vision through both eyes causing me to only use one eye for vision, not being able to see 3d imagery and so on...I was prescribed +1.75 Prism glasses ,not sure if I want to use them because I could become dependent on them when my vision problem is not the worst. I am from Ireland , not sure if you know any colleagues here, I will try to seek one! Thanks for your help.
Hello Doctor, I have a vertical squint (Strabismus) ,would this treatment help fix it? Thanks
My eyes cross inwards I get double vision looking at lines or stripes or small boxes like
Crosswords or what ever else stripes on clothing why is this
It sounds like you may have a problem with one of the nerves controlling eye movements. How long has it been this way? Any other problems - headaches, double vision, difficulty reading, words moving on the page? If it is new, it should be evaluated quickly. To find an eye doctor near you, go to oepf.org or covd.org and use the 'find an optometrist' or 'locate a doctor' option. Let me know how it goes. I wish you the best.
Would vision therapy help with Lazy eye I have had it since I was a kid I’m a 48 year old adult now?
@DrJohnAbbondanza can you improve your eyes cosmetically with vision therapy? I have strabismus, exotropia
my first appointment is in two weeks time with Dr Tien. Is there a big difference between constant exotropia or ocassional? I have read its very hard to do anything with constant exotropia when it comes to therapy.
hello doctor i went to the vision exam(twice both w x-rays) and he told me i was fine even though i told him situation about my eyes. do you think i have a strabismus? or maybe my Social Anxiety Disorder that distract my eye movements since i'm extremely nervous around people. i've been doing the eye exercise for the past 3 days do u think it's gonna help my eyes improve?
Hey doctor, I have a turn in my one eye, and apparently eye exercises can stop it, is this true and if it is, how long would it take?, i usually wear glasses and sometimes contacts but when i take them off after awhile i get a turn in my eye, so do eye exercises really work and how long would it take?
Dr. john when i was a baby i had an esotropia surgery and after that i suffered from consecutive constant exotropia, a surgery was done at age of 16 but it was unsuccessful the misalignment came back several month later now im 20 years old im still suffering from that exotropia so i wish you could help me please thank you
My right eye go outward...what exercise help me...plz say
@DrJohnAbbondanza thank you so much for your reply. Actually i live in malaysia right now, i might move to the states after a few years to do my masters. When i do move, i'll ask you for guidance. Meanwhile i will try and find some therapy doctor over here.
Dr. I live in your area and am interested in speaking with you. I am 20 years old and have had eye problems my whole life. I have a lazy eye and have had two cosmetic surgeries performed. My vision in my left eye is about 20/20 uncorrected and 20/100 in my right. My eye dr told me that my right eye could not be corrected then another dr was able to get me a prescription to get it to 20/30. I am also having severe problems with my binocular vision which I need for my job. Do you think there is a chance that you could help with my binocular vision? Also is it possible to strengthen my right eye to be 20/20? Any info would be great! And you will most likely be seeing me for a consultation soon!
Charlie,
Thank you for your interest and comment. It is possible that a proper lens prescription and/or vision therapy could help in your situation. Sometimes a contact lens may also help (even if it is only in one eye). It depends on the situation. To know more, I would need to actually examine you. If you would like to pursue it further, please set up an appointment. I hope to see you soon.
Dr. John
Hello Dr John,
Can exotropia strabismus be treated with Vision therapy for adults..Could you please suggest a vision therapist in Bangalore,India...
Hello, sir. I'm James in my early thirties.
Can I ask you something, and get some feedback from you?
I live in Seoul, South Korea. I have had eye problems almost for about four to five years.
Exophoria.. right eye problems have had deeply distressed me, resulting in some sociophobia.. I don't know why I started getting into troubles and my symptoms seem like to worsen. Now I started doing regular eye exercises using a barrel card(like a brock string) and flipper glasses(4 lens including two concave lens and two convex lens) about three months ago. About thirty minutes or so a day regularly. Unfortunately, vision therapy is still not common here.
But I have no idea how long (may be some years) I should do this tedious eye exercises and, I'm not sure it should really work. Could you give me some comments or suggestions?
James,
It is never too late to treat functional vision problems. Adults get very good results if they are motivated and do the activities as prescribed.
There are two optometrists that I may recommend. I do not know either one personally, so I would advise that you speak to them, ask them about their training, how long they have been doing vision therapy, how many patients have they treated, and then describe your symptoms and problems and ask if they think it would be helpful for you. Sometimes, all you need is a new pair of glasses prescribed for your particular situation. Other times, you need vision therapy. But it can help with headaches, double vision, difficulty reading, problems concentrating, words moving on the page, etc.
Good luck. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
96wis, yes it is possible that vision therapy could improve the vision in your left eye. if you are interested in learning more, you may be want to read Susan Barry's book 'Fixing My Gaze'. Sue is a neuroscientist (PhD from Princeton, I believe) who treated her strabismus with vision therapy and at the age of 47, developed 3 dimensional stereo depth perception. She has been called 'Stereo Sue' because she now lectures about how vision therapy changed her life. Google 'stereo sue' to find her
Well, it may be true that your vision could not be improved. It is also true that sometimes we can make a difference when other doctors said it could not be done. If you would like a second opinion, I could recommend someone near you.
Hi, I have a little boy who is 14mths and has Ocular albinism. I'm wondering would vision therapy help him in any way. If so we are in Galway, Ireland and I'm wondering where would we look for this I have no idea?
Siobhan, sorry about the late reply. I would suggest you go to the website of the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists and search for a doctor there. If you have any further questions, please let me know.
@ppppdmt I know that many people believe that you cannot treat strabismus or amblyopia ('lazy eye') after the age of 7 or 8, but that is just not true. It is never too late to treat strabismus or amblyopia. Google 'treatment of strabismus/amblyopia in adults' or 'perceptual learning in adults' and you will find many scholarly articles saying the exact same thing.
Can vision therapy help someone who's having problems following severe concussion? Blurred vision, little bit light sensitive, trouble focusing, things seem more 2D than they used to, and have also weirdly noticed that my eyes are no longer perfectly straight, one of them turns out ever so slightly. 20:20 vision before this head injury a few months ago. Will this help?
Paraic, in short, the answer is yes. You are not alone in the symptoms that you have been experiencing. We see many patients who have had similar symptoms to yours get relief through special glasses and vision therapy. And yes, glasses can help increase your comfort, even if you have 20/20 vision. The response to lenses in this situation is usually immediate and you see and feel the change immediately. Would you like me to recommend a doctor in your area who may be able to help you?
+John Abbondanza Yeah I definitely want to try this. Unfortunately I'm in Ireland, had a brief look on the internet but I'm not sure if there are people carrying out this type of therapy here.
That is OK. I can try to find the closest practitioner to you. I have my ways. :-) What are the closest cities to where you live that might be acceptable for you to go to?
+John Abbondanza Dublin City is the most accessible for me, could you see if there's somebody there that could help? Limerick city is another option, little further away from me though.
Paraic, Sorry about the late reply. Patsy Maher is in Dublin City. I understand that she may be taking some time off soon. But I would start with her. Visual problems post-concussion are common, such as headache, blurred vision, double vision, eye strain on computer or reading, sensitivity to lights, etc. Behavioral Optometrists know how to help with those symptoms.
I see your refractive state is positive. That's a good sign in my book.
Hi Dr I am staying in Singapore. I am writing on behalf of my fren who is diagnose with Oculomotor Dysfunction. Can this threrapy help. If Yes can you recommend a behavioral optometrist here whom we can speak to ?
+semi kim Semi - I would recommend that you contact Stanley Tien in Malasia. His contact information is:
Segamat, Johor, Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone: +607-9318514 EMAIL
96wis, it is possible for you to gain vision in your weak eye from vision therapy. To exactly what level, I am not sure. You may not gain 20/20 vision. It is possible that your vision could be better with a contact lens. have you discussed that with your eye doctor? Where do you live? Would you like a referral?
@ppppdmt In fact, Susan Barry wrote a book about how she found a behavioral optometrist who treated her strabismus (lazy eye) and developed stereoscopic 3-D vision at the age of 48. Sue is a neuroscientist who teaches at Mount Holy Oak College and was told for years that nothing could be done for her lazy eye. But that is just not the case. It is NEVER too late to treat strabismus/amblyopia. Watch my video "Is Vision Therapy only for children". Good luck!
Is it possible to get a refractive change of +0.75 diopters for my normal eyes, to get to 20/20?
Or is that totally impossible?
Vision therapy can teach patients to use their eyes differently, and can improve vision, but to comment more on your situation, I would need more information.
@@DrJohnAbbondanza Thank you!
my wife is seeing double in the right eye from a fall to her face on concrete it developed six days after the fall. after getting medical evaluation they told her to wait and see if it will come back on its own. can you recommend some assistance.
If she is still seeing double, there are many ways that a behavioral optometrist could help. Sometimes changing the prescription can make a huge difference. Sometimes adding prism can help. And vision therapy would be expected to increase the control over her eyes and visual system, and therefore reduce her symptoms. Would you like me to recommend someone in your area?
@ppppdmt Yes, you can cosmetically improve how your eyes work with vision therapy. I have about 5 patients right now in therapy who are doing just that. What area do you live in? Perhaps I could recommend someone near you.
Mohammed,
My apologies for the late reply. We help patients every day with esotropia and exotropia through vision therapy. Where do you live? Perhaps I could recommend one of my colleagues for you. You may also want to check out these our website or the websites of COVD and OEPF for more information. If you have any further questions, please let me know. Good luck.
Good luck. If you have any other questions, just let me know. I wish you the best, and I am glad you found this video.
hellow doctor , I am a 14 year old boy from India I recently did my eye test and was told that I have 1.25 power (near sightedness) I really don't want to were glasses is there any way I can bring down my power to normal?
All ODs will tell you it is impossible.
It is possible to change your refractive status from 20/40 to 20/20 or something close to that, especially if your focusing muscle attached to your lens is in spasm. But this is NOT how I define success. Success is relief of symptoms & improved life - headaches, eye strain, easier reading, better sports performance, etc. It is very difficult to change your refractive status. You may have better results with orthokeratology.
OK. sounds good to me. Best of luck. :-)
Have you ever heard of visual snow ?
I heard vision therapy help a few ppl with this issue ?
Please let us know
yes it do
This is extremely interesting. I am studying to be a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist. How is the outlook for this field? It seems very promising.
The field is currently expanding rapidly. More patients are being helped than ever before and awareness of vision therapy has never been greater. May I ask what you would be doing as a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist? Is this part of an occupational therapy program or other program? What country are you in? I would love to know! :-)You may be particularly interested in some of the other videos, like "Why Smart Kids Struggle with Reading" or "Is Vision Therapy Only for Children?"
If you have any other questions, just let me know.
Thanks for the quick response! Do you have an email I can message you on? It would be easier for me. My email is Douglas.Hamilton001@yahoo.com
@@johnabbondanza830 What is your email?
Roger [kirby] Waters sorry about the late reply. This was popping up in a place I don't normally go to on my phone.
hello doctor ! i am 22 years old. I am facing much much problem in eye focus. Hard to focus while reading specially on computer. I spend alot of time on pc. I have -0.25 power glass which I recently check with doctor. I am wearing my glasses regularly still I am facing such problem. please help !!!!
Hello Honey! It sounds like you are having a problem with near point vision. The glasses that you were prescribed were for distance. I would not expect them to help much with headache, eye strain, and focusing problems at near. It sounds like you may need a different prescription. If you let me know what city you live near, I may be able to find a behavioral optometrist to refer you to. If you are uncomfortable with leaving that information here, you can send me a private message at drjohn@greatvisioncare.com.Thank you for your interest.
+John Abbondanza I am from mumbai, India
+John Abbondanza Thanks for ur help. I just waana what low range (power) of reading glasses I would need ? like I can see everything clearly just not in focus while reading due to overuse of computer.
You must put numbers on it.
Head injery double vision problam pls hlp sir
You need an evaluation. yes, vision therapy and maybe a change in your glasses could help. Would you like a recommendation to see someone in your area?
Can vision therapy help children with CVI ?
What specific things is the child struggling with? The diagnosis does not tell me much - it is more helpful if I know the symptoms.
I have amblyopia my age is 18 how much revital vision help please reply
Talk to an eye doctor about it. You could try to find one willing to attempt treatment at that age. Some doctors may not want to because the odds aren't the best, but it's still possible to have some amount of improvement.
What are the education requirements to become a Vision Therapist ?
Excellent question. There is no formal educational requirement to begin work as a vision therapist. The training is on the job. There are courses one can take, many seminars all over the world, and groups and organizations that one can join, like COVD, ACBO, or OEPF. Eventually, a therapist can become certified through COVD or ACBO. Does that answer your question? Let me know if it does not.
Ok, I am currently getting my bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, but at the same time I wanna try vision therapy, so all I have to do is to apply to these programs.
Are you saying you want to work as a vision therapist? Or that you want to do vision therapy for yourself?
I wanna work, but I don't know what programs I am supposed to apply for.
Most of the training is on the job. There are no formal training programs at colleges or universities, at least as far as I know and I am an expert in the field. Find a behavioral optometrist in your area and tell them that you want to learn to be a vision therapist. You would start with on the job training. What zip code are you near? Would you like me to give you a name or two? You can find them by visiting the 'find an optometrist' section on either www.covd.org or www.oepf.org. That should help.
Any other questions, let me know. Good luck.
Improve visionafter stroke?
Yes, vision therapy can improve how the visual system functions after stroke or after a concussion. What are your symptoms?
Kangawa, You have told me you have had two eye examinations but have not told me what symptoms you have. Do you have double vision? Headaches with reading? Eye strain with reading? Lose your place reading? Skip over words and lines when reading? Diagnosed with learning disabilities or dyslexia?
Also, you have not told me what activities you are doing. Who told you to do them? How did you know what to do?
All of those things help me answer your question. Let me know. Dr. John
Sir can it help for exotropia
Yes, vision therapy can help with exotropia. What are your symptoms?
Can vision therapy help my horrible depth perception.
Let me know if you would like a recommendation for someone who can help you near you.
Thank you for your question. Vertical squint is a misalignment of the eyes in a vertical direction. The most important question is what kind of problem is this causing for you. I would bet double vision is the biggest problem. It is possible for vision therapy to help with this problem, depending on the cause. An evaluation would be required to answer specifically. Would you like me to refer you to a collegue? Where do you live?
While it is true that intermittent exotropia is easier to treat than constant exotropia, you can still treat constant exotropia successfully with vision therapy. Dr. Tien will review this with you.
Would this work help you get your change your refractive status, so, from 20/40, you could gradually get the 20/20 line clear? Is this how you define success?
@ppppdmt You may be interested to know that I know an excellent behavioral optometrist currently practicing in Malaysia. He has attended the same series of courses that I have and has visited my office. His name is Stanley Tien and his email address is stanley_tien85@yahoo.com. tell him what your situation is and he will be happy to give you some advice on how best to proceed.
I wish you well and look forward to hearing from you about how well your therapy went!!! :-)
Then why are you wearing glasses?
+Alek Duggan Seriously? The purpose of vision therapy is NOT to get rid of glasses. I would be skeptical of someone who said "Buy my exercise kit and throw away your glasses". The purpose of vision therapy is to help people with these symptoms:- headaches when reading or on the computer- eye strain and achy eyes- words moving on the page or floating off the page- loss of place and skipping over words and lines when reading- double vision- tired eyes- having to use a finger to keep place when readingVision therapy can also treat lazy eye. There are other things that vision therapy can do, but I would not say that if you did vision therapy, you would never need glasses.
+Alek Duggan. Given refractive errors are typically due to the physiological shape of the eye ball, no vision therapy would not do anything about the need for glasses/no glasses. It will also not cure glaucoma, diabetes, cancer or stupidity.
Then getting yourself back to 20/20 is impossible - from 20/30?
fix ur hair plz
You don't like my hair?? :-)