Good vision is more than just the ability to see clearly. It is the ability to understand and respond to what is seen from whatever source for hours on end. The vision skills for children are unique in that signals to the brain for learning are developing at a rapid pace. If tracking, eye muscle movements, visual perception, focusing ability and, of course, vision, are not working in tandem-- your child may be at risk for not achieving their academic potential. Take our CHILDREN'S VISION SCREENING TEST.

How can we help?

It all starts with an eye health and vision exam at our office. We recommend all children to have this done beginning in the first grade, then annually thereafter.
 

I hear a lot about 'Vision Training,' how does that help with concentration?
Vision training is like fitness training for the eyes - coordinating eye muscles for the visual tasks in today's world. It helps to improve tracking and your child's overall visual well being resulting in better long-term concentration and attention.

Play the Eye Hand Game 

Students today read almost three times the number of textbooks as their parents did and many must use computers. 

A large part of learning is done visually reading, chalkboard work, and computer use are among the tasks students tackle all day long, day after day. Each involves the visual abilities of seeing clearly and understanding visual information usually at less than an arm's length from the eyes. Such near vision work demands very different skills from the distance vision tested by the 20/20 chart. 

Just as many of us don't have good 20/20 distance vision, many of us also have problems with the skills required to sustain near vision tasks. Near vision requires that your eyes work as a team called binocular vision:
 

• to converge -- aiming together to combine the images from each eye into one,
• to accommodate-- the human lens brings images into clear focus,
• to fixate --moving the eyes across a page fluidly and then jumping to the next line.

  Learning can be impaired if eye movements are slow or clumsy if the eyes jump, "stutter" or lose their place when reading a book or from a computer screen.
  If your child does not have adequate near vision skills, asthenopia or eyestrain symptoms may occur.  

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  If good visual skills have not been developed, learning is difficult and stressful. Children may react in one or more ways, including:
   
• avoiding reading and other near visual work as much as possible,
• attempting to do the work but with decreased understanding,
• being an "underachiever,"
• having a short attention span,
• getting fatigued easily.

   While vision problems do not "cause" learning disabilities, poor near vision skills can impede remedial efforts by interfering with the learning process. Vision therapy has been proven to be an effective tool in helping people with vision-related learning problems.

  When your child develops good visual skills through vision therapy, it's like learning to ride a bike. Your eyes never forget.
   

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