CURING LEARNING RELATED VISION PROBLEMS
Vision problems often masquerade as learning problems, but vision problems can be corrected.
Experts unable to explain why your child isn’t doing well in school – is it an attention problem? behavioral problem? processing delay? It could be a vision problem.
In this TED Talk, optometrist Dr. Vicky Vandervort explains what it is like for a person to have eyes that don’t work efficiently causing the person to exert extreme effort to see. When this occurs, people, especially children, do not realize the drain on their brain. They try hard, but appear not to be trying at all.
Dr. Vandervort acknowledges that many children suffer silently while the adults rationalize or mistake their symptoms for Attention Deficit Disorder. The symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be very similar to convergence insufficiency. Convergence insufficiency occurs when the eyes are not able to team together at near. 15 out of the 18 convergence insufficiency symptoms on the College of Optometrists in Vision Development symptom checklist are the same as common ADHD symptoms. Many eye doctors don’t test for these conditions, most eye doctors only test for eye health and 20/20 acuity. However, at Brighter Outlook Vision, our developmental optometrist Dr. Jesse takes on a more complex approach in understanding and preventing these misdiagnoses.
Parents and teachers often confuse the symptoms of ADHD and strabismus, leading to misdiagnosis. A child with strabismus has trouble keeping both eyes on the demand at hand and when that happens, they have to work harder to keep things in focus. It is important to explore all options and not just opt out on the popular medication route. Being medicated for ADHD when they really just have an eye problem can create bigger problems down the road. If it is a vision problem, it can be corrected through a program of vision therapy and not need medication at all.
Optometric vision therapy isn’t eye therapy, it’s therapy for the brain. Vision therapy trains the patient how to use both eyes, and keep both eyes on a single target comfortably without double vision. When eyes jump around on the page, the brain has to compensate for finding and maintaining one’s place on the page, which depletes comprehension. So, just because you can see something, does not mean you can make meaning of it if both eyes are not working together to identify what they are looking at.
As Dr. Vandervort emphasized the ripple effect that vision therapy can cause in her TED Talk, “Optometric vision therapy can unleash learning potential and the enjoyment of reading, which can help ease our schools.” It’s important to understand that curing the “vision problems,” in most cases, cures the problems identified as academic problems. The eyes lead the way in visual learning because eyes are the first place of input. Then it is the pathways between the eyes and the brain that lead to learning. You can learn more about the connection between reading and vision here.
Dr. Jesse’s goal at Brighter Outlook Vision is to prevent a child from experiencing the tragedy of being mislabeled because the full range of visual skills is not evaluated. Labels can be demoralizing, especially when the problem isn’t with the child, but with a correctable vision problem. Children with vision related learning problems may have been told that they are not working hard enough or that they are dumb, and then believe they are a failure. This attitude is then carried into adulthood and may lead to psychological and self-esteem issues if ignored. Research shows that children diagnosed with strabismus, especially with intermittent exotropia (one eye turns out sometimes), were prone to develop significant psychiatric diseases by the 3rd decade of life.
Vision correlates with one’s socioemotional development. Vision problems go hand-in-hand with cognitive, physical problems, and even psychological problems; such as depression. For example, if a person cannot see well enough to navigate their world, they may isolate themselves because they do not feel comfortable out in the world bumping into people and things around them, losing their way. This can then lead to fear of crowds or busy spaces, (social anxiety) or feeling embarrassed because they cannot read the expressions on their friends’ faces. Social isolation can lead to a myriad of psychological problems.
At Brighter Outlook Vision, we provide many different tests to determine the patient’s exact diagnosis so that they can leave knowing the next steps to take in order for them to feel more comfortable in their world. It is very important that you get the help that you or your child needs early on so that the potential problems can be prevented.
“When the visual obstacles are removed, the child begins to excel in school, music and sports. Futures brighten. Self-confidence climbs and a new child emerges from the old, much like a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. The possibilities are endless.”
