About Vision Therapy, II

I get so many hits on my blog for vision therapy, mostly looking for material about Stereo Sue, so I take it for granted that all of my visitors know what vision therapy is. Bad librarian!

It's hard to find a good definition online of vision therapy from a reputable source, in part because it's somewhat controversial.  My impression of it, and this is from my own experience, is that it's a way of retraining the eyes and brain to work together to improve vision.  It's both a personal interest and a professional one, as effective vision therapy relies heavily on the brain's ability to change at any age (also known as brain plasticity).

Vision therapy has been used with people with learning disabilities, with traumatic brain injury, and vision problems like strabismus.  Athletes have used it to improve their hand-eye coordination (useful for baseball players, for instance).  In my case, it was used to correct a convergence insufficiency.  It is generally practiced by behavioral optometrists, whose goal is "to develop or improve fundamental visual skills and abilities" and/or "change how a patient processes or interprets visual information" (College of Optometrists in Vision Development [COVD]).

If you're looking for vision therapy treatment, my eye doctor recommends finding a COVD optometrist. Read what the COVD says about vision therapy; you might also be interested in their information about vision therapy for adults.

For More Information, check out these blog posts about vision therapy

• Stereo Sue and Me, July 1, 2006
• About Vision Therapy, July 13, 2006
• Scholarly Research on Vision Therapy, July 13, 2006
• Links for Vision Therapy, July 28, 2006
• Vision Therapy, a personal perspective, January 5, 2009