Is your child intelligent outside of school? Did you know that one in four children has a visual issue that interferes with their ability to study and that issues with eye movement and focus can frequently resemble symptoms of ADD/ADHD?
The ability to read, process, and comprehend information can be impacted by how the eyes move, cooperate, and focus. According to studies, learning can be severely hampered by impairments in any of these areas.
These issues can be resolved with the aid of vision therapy, which can enhance learning and reading skills.
In situations where there is visual dysfunction, vision treatment can help
- Lazy eyes, or amblyopia
- strabismus (crossed or twisted eyes) (crossed or turned eyes)
- Convergence Insufficiency (CI) (CI)
- Convergence of additional vision-related learning challenges
- Issues with visual processing
- loss of vision caused by a concussion, stroke, or other trauma (see VISION REHABILITATION )
- improper eye-hand coordination and/or weak sporting ability
What precisely is vision therapy?
Vision therapy is similar to physical therapy for the eyes; it is a type of neuro-muscular re-education! Vision Therapy is described by the American Optometry Association (AOA) as
A set of activities that are individually recommended and followed up on by a doctor in order to improve visual processing and skills.
It entails a customized course of treatment intended to improve brain function by addressing visual-motor and/or perceptual-cognitive deficiencies:
- eye position
- Eye twinning and tracking
- eye-focus techniques
- control over eye motion
- visual perception
Each patient’s vision therapy program at Advanced Family Eye Care is customized to meet their unique visual deficits and is based on the findings of standardized testing.
The vision therapy program includes the use of lenses, prisms, filters, specialist equipment, and computer programs.
Vision is much more than just being able to see clearly 20/20. To assess visual skills and abilities necessary for reading, learning, and daily life, the first step to taking care of any potential vision issues is to schedule a thorough eye exam. This should be followed by specialist developmental vision testing.
If necessary, a vision therapy treatment plan will be recommended to help the patient and/or their family achieve their unique objectives.
Is my insurance going to cover vision therapy?
Indeed, in many instances. Services for vision treatment are covered by several significant insurance companies, including BlueCross BlueShield, United, Aetna, and others. Several factors determine whether vision therapy is covered by insurance:
- Your findings
- Information related to your insurance policy
- The code(s) for the procedure(s) employed during the therapy
Drs. May and Cioffi are among the few optometrists in Maryland that offer vision therapy and take insurance; the staff at Advanced Family Vision Care will work with you to assess your choices for coverage and the best course of action.
Insurance frequently requires a co-pay (typically your standard medical copay) or co-insurance (if it is a feature of your plan) for each session of vision treatment.
Just like any other form of medical treatment, vision therapy services go toward your annual medical deductible; if you have not fulfilled your deductible there may be additional fees beyond your co-pay/co-insurance.
What kind of treatment might I expect?
A thorough eye examination with refraction is always the first step in the evaluation process for vision treatment. This ensures overall eye health and identifies whether glasses or contact lenses are required.
Dr. May or Dr. Cioffi will conduct specific sensorimotor testing after a thorough examination to gauge the patient’s eye teaming, eye movement, and concentrating abilities. If more testing is required to assess visual perception skills, it will be done.
Dr. May or Dr. Cioffi will perform a complete evaluation and then create a treatment strategy tailored particularly for you to address your symptoms and diagnoses. Once a week, 45 minutes are allotted for therapy sessions in-office.
In order to facilitate and speed up progress and enable you to successfully complete your in-office therapy program, you will be given “home therapy” to perform between sessions.
The doctor will reassess your visual abilities every six to eight sessions in order to track your development and direct your therapy program.
The doctor will reassess your visual abilities at one month and again at six months after your therapy program is over in order to make sure that no gains were lost after the program was over.
Can attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) be treated with vision therapy?
NO – Vision Therapy is not a treatment or a cure for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Yet, there is a link between visual function and ADHD/ADD.
ADHD-like symptoms can also be caused by convergence insufficiency (CI), a common vision disease that affects 13% of school-aged children.
If not recognized, CI may be mistaken for ADHD. In fact, the Children’s Eye Center at the University of San Diego recently discovered
When compared to the prevalence of ADHD in the US population as a whole (1.8–3.3%), there is “… a three-fold larger incidence of ADHD among people with CI. They also point out that the prevalence of CI in those with ADHD appears to be three times higher.
When CI or another visual impairment is present, treatment with vision therapy frequently significantly lessens symptoms and, in some circumstances, totally cures them.
