Arizona Vision Therapy for Students and Athletes

What is Vision Therapy?

Vision therapy is a form of physical therapy for the eyes and brain that focuses on improving visual skills. Good eyesight requires far more than just visual clarity. We need the muscle memory and integrated skills to control how our eyes behave and process the world around us. Our tactics are evidence based on neuroscience and we aim to bring a normal quality of life to every patient.

How Does Vision Therapy Work?

Every vision therapy program from Accent Eye Care & Sports Vision Therapy begins with a full comprehensive eye exam. From there, we can determine what type of treatment is best for you or your child. Each program is designed to systematically target the weakest points of your vision that are creating hold ups in life. Therapy programs are very safe processes that do not involve surgery or medication. We improve people’s lives through hard work, proven methods, and a love for helping people.

Vision & Learning

Functional problems are relatively easy to overlook during standard tests and screenings. It’s not uncommon for children to go years with visual shortcomings that aren’t involved with clarity. Even with 20/20 vision, there could still be functional problems causing them to struggle in school.

School Screenings Aren’t Enough

There is a common misconception that school screenings will tell you everything you need to know about your child’s vision, but school screenings are not a replacement for comprehensive eye exams. A basic screening can only tell you how blurry their vision is and how far they can see clearly. A comprehensive eye exam will not only test your visual acuity (how well you focus), but also motor function, depth perception, field of vision, refraction and color vision/perception, and ocular health. Our Arizona optometrists can also take a scan of the entire eye with a retinal picture and/or OCT to test for dozens of diseases.

Signs You or Your Child Might Need Vision Therapy

Consider vision therapy if you or your child:

• Is having difficulty in school or work (can’t see the board, computer, distractions when reading, etc.)
• Frequently mixes up similar letters such as “p”, “q”, “b”, or “d”, etc…
• Skips lines or words while reading
• Has a short attention span or frequent headaches

Many of these symptoms might seem reminiscent of ADD or ADHD. Often, vision disorders are diagnosed as attention disorders because they are so similar. In fact, about 65% of people are visual learners making clear sight and processing skills very important. Unfortunately, as of now, there really isn’t a way to determine if your child has a vision or attention disorder without being tested specifically for them.

Sports Vision Therapy

Visual skills play an important part in just about every sport. Athletes rely on their sight for hand to eye coordination, reflex, and information processing. If you are looking for a competitive edge to give you a push ahead of the game then vision therapy may be exactly what you are looking for.

Vision

What you see on the field and how clearly you see it are directly connected to your vision skills. This includes:

• How fast your eyes focus
• Tracking a moving ball or target
• Seeing the target in different lighting and with different backgrounds
• Depth perception
• Accuracy in aiming of the eyes

Visual Perceptual Skills

Visual Perception refers to general visual skills that are always active, even when you don’t notice them, in order to gain meaning from what you are looking at. These skills are necessary to turn visual information into action. A few perceptual skills include:

• Processing speed
• Spatial awareness
• Spotting oddities or stand outs
• Telling the difference between the object and the background

Injury Recovery

Sports and head injuries happen all the time. In the case of head trauma, sight can be severely damaged, if not lost permanently. Therefore, we take great pride in helping victims of brain damage improve some of their visual deficiencies. Arizona vision therapy has made great strides in recent years in supplementing the recovery of head trauma and stroke injuries. Our work lets people acquire a better quality of life, so please do not wait, call now for more information.