| Vision therapy has been proven to be an effective | | | | front. |
| treatment of vision development problems in grade | | | | Cross Patterning - which allows children to use both |
| school children. As a Behavioral Optometrist I have | | | | sides of their brain efficiently. |
| worked with vision therapy and children with learning | | | | Other developmental areas, including coding, |
| disabilities for over 20 years, and I see the | | | | sequencing, fine and gross motor, etc. |
| effectiveness of the right techniques every day. | | | | Now, it is easy to see how this can have a huge |
| However, I am often asked, "Can vision therapy also | | | | impact on children who display learning disabilities, but |
| be effective for preschool children?" | | | | what about the younger kids, the preschoolers who |
| Vision therapy is a very effective tool when it comes | | | | may or may not be showing signs of deficiency. |
| to developing visual skills. It is far more than the | | | | Let me suggest this: if your preschool or kindergarten |
| traditional eye exercises, which are tedious, boring and | | | | child is showing signs of being behind the others in the |
| purely designed to increase eye coordination and | | | | class, then vision therapy is a highly effective tool in |
| focus skills, which are more about what we | | | | developing the visual skills that child may need to catch |
| Optometrists are measuring rather than the child's | | | | up and move ahead. It works because these skills, |
| actual performance. | | | | which should be developing in children through this |
| But in vision therapy we have the opportunity to invest | | | | period, sometimes are not developed or |
| time and effort into developing visual skills that really | | | | underdeveloped. If we can develop them quickly and |
| count when it comes to helping children overcome | | | | effectively, the child will improve significantly. |
| learning disabilities. It's not just about the eyes, it is | | | | However, I have also found that, if we do vision |
| about developing real skills which go far beyond just | | | | therapy and push through the development of normal |
| eyeballs! | | | | kids, we can accelerate their performance and |
| The skills developed by vision therapy include the | | | | thereby increase the learning ability of even "normal" |
| following: | | | | children. |
| Eye movements - which help children flow in their | | | | In both of these situations, what we need to do is tailor |
| reading and stops them misreading words or skipping | | | | our program to suit the preschool or kindergarten level. |
| lines, and it also helps in ball sports. | | | | That's why I have produced a home based vision |
| Focus and Eye Coordination - which helps children | | | | therapy program just for preschoolers, and it works |
| concentrate and apply themselves to their school | | | | very effectively making struggling preschoolers far |
| work. | | | | better, and preschoolers who were performing OK, |
| Visualization and Recall - which helps children to | | | | rise to be even better. |
| effectively remember sight words and spelling, giving | | | | This is achieved by training the specific areas which |
| them a large vocabulary to help them to read. | | | | really matter in children and their visual development. |
| Directionality - which helps children with learning | | | | For more information and some free gifts, visit our |
| disabilities overcome reversals, writing letters back to | | | | website for more details. |