What Is Vision Therapy? And How to Know If You Need It

Perhaps one of the best societal developments of the 21st century is that therapy in general has become more mainstream. More people than ever are seeking out professional psychological help for mental health issues, to the point that many licensed therapists have a waitlist.

One type of therapy that hasn’t become so mainstream (yet!) is vision therapy. But just what is vision therapy, and what can it do for your eyes? Today, we’ll talk about this growing field and how to tell whether this treatment option is right for you.

What Is Vision Therapy Used For?

When a person experiences vision issues, whether it be from something temporary like digital eye strain or something more long-term like a convergence issue, their first thought is to turn to corrective lenses to fix the issue. These lenses are a great band-aid fix, but they don’t fix the root of the issue.

That’s where vision therapy comes in. This type of eyesight treatment encompasses a regimen of doctor-supervised exercises that can actually physically improve your vision. Think of it like physical therapy: if you have a sprained ankle, you might see the PT to build back strength. Vision therapy works similarly to strengthen the muscles in and around your eyes to improve your vision. Scientific study also supports vision therapy for specific binocular vision disorders like convergence insufficiency and accommodative dysfunction, and post-brain injury vision issues. Grounded in neuroplasticity and perceptual learning, vision therapy retrains the brain to improve visual skills such as focusing, eye tracking, and depth perception. It is important to note, though, that not all eye care professionals endorse vision therapy.

Vision Therapy for Kids

Young eyes are still much more malleable than adult eyes. That’s why the biggest growth of alternative optometry has come in the form of behavioral optometry, primarily aimed at children.

Now, there are forms of pediatric vision “therapy” (under the wider umbrella of vision training) that are little more than a hoax. Behavioral optometry has classically veered off that beaten path towards less tested methods. Among these are the use of so-called “yoked prisms.” These devices shift light instead of focusing it and have no known basis in scientific fact. It’s really important to seek advice from an eye doctor you trust before engaging in a new eye care regimen.

So here’s the part of eye therapy that works: eye exercises and eye exams. Behavioral optometrists have long been among the most vocal proponents of the widespread adoption of eye exercises for kids. These largely come with research pedigrees and have a wealth of empirical evidence behind them.

Vision exercises have shown particular value in treating childhood convergence disorders, which occur when a child’s eyes fail to coordinate properly, making it difficult to focus on near-field objects. Convergence disorders respond well to eye exercises, making school a much easier, more comfortable experience for children.

Eye exams are similarly valuable. Compulsory in-school vision screenings often catch more serious issues, but they fail to catch more subtle conditions that could be treated with vision therapy before they worsen.

Convergence disorders are a classic example. As convergence disorders are only apparent when a child is forced to track a moving target, they require more than a traditional eye chart to notice. A more comprehensive exam for kids will definitely catch these issues, and then qualified doctors can recommend the appropriate eye exercises. And, while a lot of research focuses on using this treatment for kids, vision therapy for adults is a growing field, too.

How to Find a Vision Therapist

So, how do you avoid going to a vision therapist who doesn’t know what they are talking about? Fortunately, it’s getting easier – a new breed of behavioral optometrist seems to be springing up. These practitioners are often fully certified as optometrists. This is a crucial difference. Behavioral optometrists don’t have a central regulating body and have no real guarantee of quality.

However, optometrists do. These medical professionals are certified by the states in which they practice and are qualified to give eye exams, fit patients for corrective lenses, and provide a wide range of primary vision care.

Many of these practitioners have also begun to add vision therapy exercises to their offered services. Combined with true comprehensive eye exams, these practitioners can offer a fully natural way to treat you and your child’s vision.

Is Vision Therapy for Your Child?

In short, it depends. Some aspects of current vision therapy are definitely viable for childhood eye care; some are not.

One thing absolutely worth scheduling is a comprehensive eye exam from a licensed optometrist. As mentioned, in-school exams frequently miss issues unrelated to visual acuity. A full exam can help identify these issues. It will give you more information on the steps to take to help your child find vision solutions.

Beyond this, things get a little hazier. If you’ve taken care to work with an actual optometrist, you’ll likely hear a little bit about orthoptic vision therapy – in a nutshell, eye exercises.

Eye Exercises

In many cases, eye exercises are a great place to start for both adults and children. For example, if your child has been diagnosed with the above-mentioned convergence insufficiency, then, going by standards set by the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, there’s some value in moving ahead. Orthoptic therapy has been shown to be successful in treating this condition. And, doing vision therapy exercises at home (after they’ve been prescribed by a professional) can’t do much harm to your eyes, since they aren’t invasive.

If, on the other hand, they bring up behavioral vision therapy, you may want to reconsider working with this professional. Behavioral therapy heavily relies on a proposed link between reading and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, and eyesight.

While this might appear to make sense on the surface, in reality, this claim is too good to be true. A review of many studies published in MDPI’s journal Children cautions providers from treating more than convergence issues with vision therapy. This is because some proponents of this type of therapy will tell you that there is only one cause, and therefore only one cure, for issues that require a therapeutic approach. In reality, scientists need to conduct more conclusive clinical trials before anyone can know how effective this branch of vision therapy is.

Vision Therapy: Concluding Thoughts

So, is vision therapy right for you? With so much added visual stress these days, vision therapy could bring some much-needed relief to your eyes.

“Fast track” or “intensive” vision training programs should be treated with particular care. Many of these offer guarantees on improved eyesight and academic performance. As far as we can tell, these claims don’t have much basis in reality. However, some types of vision therapy can be helpful – the best thing to do is do your research!