6 Signs That Your Child Needs Vision Therapy
A staggering 80 percent of a child's learning within their first 12 years is dependent on their visual abilities. When there’s a suspicion that a child has a behavioral issue, a learning disorder, or a mood disorder such as anxiety or depression, it’s vision deficits that can often be the main reason.
According to 20/20 On Site, “More than one in 20 preschool-age children and one in four school-age children have a vision disorder.” While routine eye exams are crucial, some visual issues may require additional intervention.
Vision therapy is a non-invasive and effective treatment option that can address various visual challenges in children. Occupational therapists can also work alongside optometrists and vision therapists to address visual, sensory, and motor impairments that are closely related to a child's visual skills. By recognizing the signs that your child may benefit from vision therapy, you can take proactive steps to support their visual development and overall well-being.
Signs Your Child Needs Vision Therapy
1. Frequent Eye Strain And Fatigue
If your child frequently experiences eye strain, fatigue, or complains of headaches during or after visual tasks like reading or using digital devices, it may indicate a need for vision therapy. Struggling to maintain focus or tiring quickly can be signs of underlying visual issues that vision therapy can help address.
2. Poor Eye-Hand Coordination
If your child has difficulty with activities requiring hand-eye coordination, such as catching or throwing a ball, handwriting, or completing puzzles, it might be related to visual processing challenges. Vision therapy can improve visual-motor skills and enhance coordination, helping your child excel in various physical tasks.
3. Skipping Or Reversing Letters
Persistent difficulties with reading, such as skipping or reversing letters or words, even after receiving reading instruction, can be a sign of visual processing difficulties (see below). Vision therapy can help improve visual tracking, eye teaming, and visual perception skills, enabling your child to read more effectively and with greater comprehension.
4. Poor Depth Perception
Depth perception is crucial for tasks like judging distances, playing sports, and navigating stairs or curbs safely. If your child frequently misjudges distances, bumps into objects, or struggles with activities that require accurate depth perception, vision therapy can enhance their depth perception skills and overall visual awareness.
5. Eye Alignment And Tracking Issues
Children with eye alignment and tracking issues may experience crossed or wandering eyes, difficulty following moving objects, or losing their place while reading. Vision therapy exercises can help strengthen eye muscles, improve eye teaming and tracking abilities, and enhance overall eye alignment.
6. Struggles With Visual Processing Skills
Visual processing involves how the brain interprets and makes sense of visual information. If your child struggles with visual memory, visual sequencing, visual discrimination, or visual attention, it can significantly impact their academic performance.
Visual memory: The ability to remember and recall visual information accurately and effectively.
Visual sequencing: The skill of arranging visual stimuli or information in a specific order or sequence.
Visual discrimination: The capability to differentiate and perceive differences or similarities between visual stimuli, such as shapes, colors, or patterns.
Visual attention: The capacity to selectively focus and sustain attention on visual information or stimuli while filtering out distractions.
Vision therapy can improve these visual processing skills, enabling your child to better comprehend and retain information.
How OT Can Help
While occupational therapists (OTs) have knowledge and expertise in addressing various aspects of a child's development, including sensory and motor skills, they typically do not provide comprehensive vision therapy themselves. Vision therapy is a specialized area that is typically conducted by optometrists or vision therapists who have received specific training in this field.
However, occupational therapists can play a valuable role in supporting children who are undergoing vision therapy. OTs can work collaboratively with optometrists or vision therapists to address sensory and motor aspects of a child's development that may be interconnected with their visual skills. This collaborative approach can enhance the effectiveness of vision therapy and provide a comprehensive intervention plan for the child.
Occupational therapists can address sensory integration, motor coordination, and perceptual skills that are related to visual processing. They can incorporate activities and exercises into their therapy sessions to support the child's overall sensory-motor development, which can, in turn, have a positive impact on their visual abilities.
What To Do Next
When it comes to identifying potential vision problems in your child, there are a few steps to follow. The first step is to be observant of any noticeable behaviors or symptoms that could indicate an issue with their vision that may warrant vision therapy.
The next step is to make an appointment with your child's eye doctor or optometrist, who will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of their functional vision. This examination will help determine if your child has a refractive error, such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), or astigmatism, which may require prescription eyeglasses to correct their vision.
Depending on the findings of the eye examination, the eye doctor may recommend vision therapy or occupational therapy as a potential treatment option.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your child's vision needs are properly addressed, whether it's through prescription eyeglasses to correct refractive errors or vision therapy to enhance their visual skills. Early detection and intervention are key to promoting optimal visual development and supporting your child's visual health to support their overall development.
Summary
Recognizing the signs that your child may need vision therapy is crucial for their overall visual health and academic success. If you observe any of the aforementioned signs or have concerns about your child's visual abilities, consult with an occupational therapist, optometrist, or vision therapy specialist.
A comprehensive eye examination can help identify any underlying visual issues, and if necessary, they can recommend a personalized vision therapy program tailored to your child's needs. With the right intervention, your child can develop improved visual skills, enhancing their confidence, academic performance, and overall quality of life.
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