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Behavioral Optometry BOAF
Volume1 Number1 2012
eyeglasses. We were told that was the best we could expect.
Jillian was so excited to return to public school. She started fourth grade feeling a little nervous, but with high hopes. Her fourth grade teacher was fantastic. She was quick to point out Jillian‘s strengths, but equally concerned about her weakness. She told me that Jillian could answer questions verbally and recite her times tables per- fectly, but then she would fail written math exam. I assumed that Jillian needed to see the ophthal- mologist about adjusting her eyeglasses prescrip- tion. When we saw him, he agreed that she needed a slight change, but said it should not be causing her problems in school. He had nothing else to offer.
That afternoon I sat at my computer and typed into Google the words „Vision and Learning.“ I found pages and pages of information about something called vision therapy. I did not know of this would help Jillian, but I was willing to try any- thing. I clicked on one of the links to find a vision therapist in our area. With a silent prayer, I dialed the number.
The first thing I discovered about vision ther- apy is that 20/20 eyesight is not 20/20 vision. Eye- sight is merely the basic ability to „See.“ Vision is the ability to identify, interpret, comprehend, and act on what is seen. Visual memory, visual concen- tration, eye teaming, and focusing skills all come into play with vision therapy.
At Jillian‘s first vision therapy appointment, I was drawn to a wall in the hallway. It was plastered with photographs of patients of all ages accompa- nied by their success stories. I enjoyed learning about a high school student who, after overcoming an eye muscle weakness that caused double vi- sion, went on to be the pitcher on her university‘s softball team. I was also inspired to hear about the man who was able to achieve his dream of becom- ing a Navy Seal.
I learned that vision problems are as troubling for adults as they are for children and teens. Undi- agnosed and untreated vision challenges follow adults into their later years, sometimes disrupting
careers. As it turns out, many adults have solved serious problems through vision therapy.
No Teamwork
After Jillian‘s initial consultation, we were told that one of her most worrisome and immediate problems was that her eyes were not teaming to- gether. They were working independently of each other. The therapist explained that this is a com- mon result of eye patching.
With normal vision, both eyes work coopera- tively, sweeping easily from side to side. However, as Jillian would read a line in a page of text, her left eye would read a few words to the middle of the line and then her right eye would try to take over for the other half of the line. Her vision was causing not only reading difficulties, but troubles with math and handwriting as well.
Jillian embraced the challenge of vision ther- apy. She knew that schoolwork was harder for her than most others in her class. She had told me she wished her teacher would not hang up her draw- ings or stories on the wall because they were not as pretty as other student‘s work. It was a relief to her to find out there was someone specially trained who could help her.
Jillian did vision therapy exercises four or five nights a week at home, and worked an hour every week in the vision therapist‘s office.
Many vision therapy instruments are unique and creative. Some are unique in that they have been engineered specifically for vision problems. Others are creative: simply a ball on a string, a newspaper, a chalkboard, a mirror, golf tees, a low balance beam.
One unique tool is the translid binocular inter- actor (TBI), which flashes a bright white light, alter- nating between the left and right eye at nine cycles per second. In Jillian‘s case, the goal of the TBI was to stop the brain from suppressing her weak eye. Suppression comes from the brain‘s desire to have a clear image and to protect against double vision.
Another tool used to correct amblyopia is the standing cheiroscope. The cheiroscope looks
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