• 110 Coshocton Avenue Mount Vernon, OH 43050

  • 740-392-4000

  • Emergency: 866-231-8381

Category: Vision Therapy

  1. Home
  2. Vision Therapy
child eye exam
26Sep 2019

Pediatric Vision Therapy: Is it Right for My Child?

When glasses, contacts or surgery can’t treat a vision condition alone, pediatric vision therapy may be effective. Learn more & discover expert vision therapy near Columbus, Ohio.

Pediatric Vision Therapy: Is it Right for My Child?

As a parent, you have the ability to zero-in and understand what your child needs or wants almost immediately. Quickly recognizing their emotions, demeanor, abilities, and desires is what makes you their everything and ultimate advocate.

Still, with as fast as children grow and develop, there is one area that even the most observant parent may not notice an issue looming in – their child’s vision.

A Struggling Visual System in a Child is Hard to Spot

If your child has a struggling visual system, it can be hard for you to spot because your child may not even know he or she is contending with a vision problem. If they don’t sense something is wrong, how can they communicate signs or concerns to you?

Or, perhaps you’ve noticed a shift in your child’s behavior and learning abilities/attitude. It’s absolutely normal for most parents to attribute these issues with a multitude of other things before considering if their child’s vision is the culprit.

When it comes to your child’s vision, we take the care and keeping of their healthy vision very seriously.

Whether they may need glasses, vision therapy, or a combination of both to help address and correct their vision and learning/behavioral problems, we’re here to break it all down for you:

What is Pediatric Vision Therapy?

Pediatric vision therapy is a non-surgical, therapeutic program where an optometrist works with your son or daughter on various visual activities that are specifically designed to strengthen their visual system and teach it to correct its impairments.

Think of pediatric vision therapy as physical therapy for the eyes – an alternative route for treating certain vision conditions that glasses, contacts or surgery can’t treat alone.

Discover a highly-effective pediatric vision therapy program in near Columbus Ohio:

The Best Approach to Vision Therapy Games for Children

It is the goal of pediatric vision therapy to help each patient achieve clear binocular vision in a fun and comfortable way.

The best vision therapy games and exercises for children:

  • Are always customized to fit a child’s exact vision needs
  • Involve both the eyes and the parts of the brain that control vision
  • Include prisms, filters, lenses, and computer-assisted activities
  • Utilize balance metronomes, boards and non-computerized visual instruments when needed
  • Require active participation from all team members to be successful and effective, including: doctor, patient, child’s parents and, when necessary, vision therapist

Problems Vision Therapy Can Correct

When it’s determined that glasses, contacts or surgery can’t treat a certain vision issue, vision therapy can prove effective.

Vision therapy mainly works to correct:

Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)
Lazy eye is a vision development issue where an eye cannot achieve normal visual acuity. This is usually caused by strabismus (cross-eyed) or another eye teaming problem.
Cross-Eyed (Strabismus)
Cross-eyed is a vision condition where a child cannot (under normal conditions) align both eyes simultaneously. One or both of the eyes may turn in, out, up or down.

Vision therapy has proven effective for treating an intermittent form of strabismus called convergence insufficiency. With this form of cross-eyed, a child cannot keep his or her eyes properly aligned when reading, despite good eye alignment when looking at distant objects.

Slight Eye Alignment Problems (Phorias)
When an eye alignment problem doesn’t produce a visible eye turn, but still causes eye strain and eye fatigue when concentrating on viewing something – like reading – vision therapy can help to minimize or correct the issue.
Eye Movement Disorders
Vision therapy can improve the accuracy of eye movements used during reading and other close-up visual work.
Eye Focusing (Accommodative) Disorders
Vision therapy can improve near-far focusing skills.
Other Vision Issues
Other vision problems that vision therapy may prove effective for include:

  • Visual-perceptual disorders
  • Vision problems related to developmental disabilities
  • Vision problems connected with an acquired brain injury (such as from a stroke)

Think your child would benefit from vision therapy? Schedule an appointment with a team that specializes in pediatric vision therapy near Columbus, Ohio:

What Vision Therapy Isn’t

With so many self-help vision improvement programs and courses available today – which can be found through TV advertisements and Google searches – it’s important to not confuse vision therapy for a self-run program that has you perform a series of eye exercises (and may even claim you can throw away your eyeglasses).

No such program you find on TV or the Internet are endorsed by professional eye care organizations. Additionally, there is no scientific evidence that self-help programs of eye exercises can correct eye issues or reverse nearsightedness or other refractive errors.
 

Vision Therapy & Learning and Behavioral Difficulties

Because vision is the primary sense by which we learn, it’s incredibly common for a child with a learning or behavioral difficulty to also have an underlying, undiagnosed vision problem that is contributing to their learning/behavioral problems.

Most optometrists use vision therapy as a piece in a multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of varying degrees of learning difficulties.
 

10 Signs Your Child May Benefit from Vision Therapy

If your child is displaying one or more of these signs, don’t negate the possibility that the issue(s) could be caused – to some degree – by an unidentified vision issue:

  1. Difficulty in school despite passing an eye screening
  2. Attention issues/difficulty concentrating
  3. Poor reading skills/covering one eye when reading
  4. Avoidance of reading or school work
  5. Poor grades despite seeming very intelligent
  6. Failing exams on paper, but verbalizing the answers
  7. Lack of interest in sports or other activities
  8. Tears and fights over homework
  9. Behavior problems
  10. Frequent headaches

First thing’s first: Let’s get your child’s eyes assessed.

A quick and painless pediatric eye exam will be able to give the eye doctor a wealth of information about your child’s overall visual abilities and vision needs. From there, it can be determined if glasses, vision therapy, or a combination of both will help your child see and feel better than ever:

Related Pediatric Vision Therapy Resources:

Understanding the overarching topic of vision problems in children is vital to do in conjunction with learning about pediatric vision therapy.

Knowing if your child’s vision is fully supporting their living and learning needs is vital to their development, success, comfort and happiness.

Learn about child vision problems and discover the signs of vision problems in babies, toddlers and children through our related articles:

The Best for Your Child: Pediatric Eye Doctor & Vision Therapy Near Columbus, Ohio

Let’s ensure your child’s vision is fully supporting his or her living and learning needs.

Through a quick and painless healthy eye exam, we will get an accurate picture of your child’s overall vision and identify what he or she needs to perform at their best in every aspect of life – whether that be glasses, vision therapy or both.

We make it our mission to make every pediatric appointment fun, engaging and comfortable.

Schedule an appointment to come in and see us soon:

Hey, Kids! Did You Know Vision Therapy is Fun and Exciting?

young girl wearing glasses


Going to the doctors can be a strange and uncomfortable experience. But never fear! Going to see Dr. Wineland and Dr. Sanders is really fun and super easy.

Did you know we’ve been helping other kids strengthen their vision for many years? We like to incorporate games and activities into vision therapy, so you will have fun and help your eyes get strong at the same time.

And just so you know, there are no needles or sharp things in vision therapy! There is nothing scary about vision therapy at all.

Here’s how you can prepare for a vision therapy appointment with us:

  • Find your favorite joke and get ready to tell it to us (we love jokes!)
  • Be ready to tell us how your eyes feel, and anything you are worried about with your vision. When we know how your eyes feel and how well they are/are not helping you see, we can better help you in therapy.
  • Arrive at your appointment excited to learn and try new things.

We’re excited we get to help your eyes see better than ever!

Categories:
child trying to read
26Jul 2018

Could your Child’s Disinterest in Reading be Linked to Problems with Vision?

Is your child displaying an apathy toward reading and learning activities? The reason could stem from undetected vision issues. Read more.

Could your Child’s Disinterest in Reading be Linked to Problems with Vision?

You child is bright, intelligent, and embodies endless potential. Lately, though, you’ve noticed your child’s apathy toward reading and overall disregard for learning activities – even the fun ones. Understandably, your child’s behavior is worrisome and has sent you searching for an explanation.

Did you know that approximately one in four children have a vision disorder that interferes with their ability to learn?

In fact, there is a 75% chance that a child’s poor learning skills or learning difficulties are caused by vision issues, such as eye focusing problems, eye tracking problems, and much more.

Additionally, the vision exams that are conducted at your child’s school or by your child’s pediatrician only catch about 15-20% of vision problems, leaving the door wide open for undetected vision issues that can also cause a child to experience eye strain, tiredness, headaches, and, worst of all, learning difficulties.

Why School Screenings are Ineffective

It’s incredibly common for parents to review the results of their child’s school or pediatrician eye exam and not think twice about the validity of it. Unfortunately, these exams usually only focus on inspecting a child’s distance vision and completely neglect to assess a child’s:

  • Near vision (critical for reading)
  • Binocular coordination
  • Eye movement skills
  • Focusing skills
  • Peripheral awareness

Without a comprehensive pediatric eye exam by a children’s eye doctor, eye focusing problems, eye tracking problems and other vision issues can be the underlying reasons your child is displaying a disinterest in reading.

It’s a common misconception that a child who can see well doesn’t have any vision issues. It’s actually the other way around. Children can have good vision and still have vision problems that affect coordination and learning skills – such as reading,
comprehension, recognition, and recollection.

Because children grow and develop rapidly, their vision changes quickly. Often times, children don’t even realize that their eyesight has shifted.

When vision issues go untreated, learning problems and confidence issues can emerge and cause unnecessary frustration, poor academic performance, and an evident disinterest in learning activities.

Aside from your child’s indifference toward reading, are they displaying any of the following signs of vision problems?

  • Squinting
  • Frequent eye rubbing
  • Eye focusing problems
  • Eye tracking problems (the ability to follow an object with the eyes)
  • Extreme light sensitivity
  • Abnormal eye alignment or movement
  • Chronic eye redness or tearing
  • Inability to see objects at a distance
  • Sitting too close to the TV

It’s important to observe your child and note any unusual head positions or actions they take in order to see something. Typically, children with vision issues will stand a certain way or tilt their head in an advantageous direction to enable them to see better.

When it comes to reading, have you noticed your child holding the book abnormally close to their face or angling their head in an odd position to simply view a page?

The Importance of Annual Eye Exam by a Children’s Eye Doctor

The educational and optometric ophthalmic communities both recognize that children who contend with reading and learning problems due to vision issues are less likely to:

  • Go to college
  • Obtain high level jobs and careers, and
  • Achieve their full potential as an adult

Several studies also show high correlations between children who read for pleasure
and adult achievements such as:

  • advanced degrees
  • job growth or advancement
  • higher incomes

If your child’s vision is hindering their development, advancement, or confidence in any way, an eye exam by a children’s eye doctor is imperative.

At iCare Vision, we make sure your child’s vision is healthy and supporting his or her learning and living needs. As a team of licensed optometrists who specialize in pediatric eye exams, we thoroughly assess your child’s vision and see to it that they find the experience fun and engaging.

If your child needs a prescription, they can find the precise frames that fit their personality within our collection of children’s frames.

Don’t wait for school to start. Help your child get on track today.

Questions for Kids: Tell Us How You Feel About Reading

  • Do you like to read?
  • If not, why don’t you like to read?
  • Do you feel like you squint your eyes when you read?
  • Do you feel like you rub your eyes a lot when reading?
  • Is it easy to read words or see pictures from your books?
  • Do you feel like you can see clearly? Or do your eyes feel burry?
  • Do you have to hold the book close to your face to see the words better?
  • Do you ever get a headache after reading?

Tell a parent or teacher what your eyes feel like, or what you’re experiencing, when you read.

Understanding what is going on with your eyes is very important to help you see clearly and comfortably when reading.

Categories:
vision therapy eye exercises
11Jul 2018

Vision Therapy Exercises You Can Try at Home

Looking for eye exercises to improve vision naturally? Find six effective eye exercises for better vision from the eye experts at iCare Vision.

Vision Therapy Exercises You Can Try at Home

When you hear the phrase optimal vision, it means more than 20/20 vision. We depend on our eyes for almost everything we do. Optimal vision requires eyesight, visual pathways, and the brain to work in tandem.

For some individuals, this process is disrupted and, as a result, a vision issue or reading and learning difficulty can emerge.

Vision therapy can prove to be effective at treating several visual problems and improving visual skills for adults and children.

For vision issues that glasses, contacts or surgery can’t treat alone, many turn to vision therapy exercises.

Do you think you or your child would benefit from this type of physical therapy for the eyes and brain?

Keep reading to learn more about vision therapy and specific exercises to improve vision.

What You Need to Know About Vision Therapy

Vision therapy is a non-invasive, drug-free therapeutic program of vision procedures that are strictly supervised by an optometrist.

The goal of vision therapy is to help individuals achieve clear, comfortable vision, improve fundamental visual skills (especially those that are critical to the reading and learning process), and alter how visual information is processed or interpreted.

Here’s what else you need to know:

Vision therapy is:

  • Tailored to meet a patient’s specific visual needs
  • Typically conducted in-office once or twice a week
  • Engaging, where doctor and patient work through visual activities designed to strengthen the visual system
  • Often supplemented with at-home exercises to be completed in between vision therapy appointments

Before we discuss eye exercises to improve vision, it’s important to note that a comprehensive eye exam must come before a vision therapy program begins and at-home eye exercises for better vision can take place.

During the examination, your doctor will thoroughly assess your eye health and will be able to tell you if you’re a good candidate for vision therapy. This initial step is vital as to ensure you or your child are not contending with an undiagnosed vision problem that needs more specialized treatment and attention.

Who Benefits the Most from Vision Therapy Exercises?

Vision therapy has helped individuals who live with certain visual challenges, neurological disorders, or have experienced vision-threatening trauma to the nervous system.

Specific visual conditions that can improve with consistent vision therapy exercises include:

  • Crossed Eye (Strabismus)
  • Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)
  • Double Vision
  • Depth Perception
  • Convergence Insufficiency
  • Eyestrain/Stress-Induced Vision Issues
  • Neurological Ailments, such as traumatic brain injuries, strokes, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, whiplash and developmental delays

Unfortunately, only about 5% of eye doctors conduct the specialized tests indicating that you may make a good candidate for vision therapy. Therefore, about 25% of the population are not aware they have a fixable vision problem. If you or your child are having trouble reading, driving or engaging in your favorite hobby, consider having a conversation with your eye doctor to learn more about vision therapy.

Additionally, athletes have been known to utilize vision therapy exercises to improve essential vision skills, such as peripheral awareness, eye-hand coordination, eye teaming, visual reaction time, and more.

6 Effective Eye Exercises for Better Vision

Once your doctor has examined your eyes and vision health and has determined you to be a good candidate for vision therapy, you or your child may be eager to get started with exercises to improve vision.

Your optometrist will undoubtedly have several effective at-home exercises to give you. You can also review and practice the following exercises for more variety or to get a head start:

1. Sunning.
This exercise can lead to improved vision in low and high light environments by gently and safely allowing the pupillary capacity to adjust to light through this exercise.

How to do the exercise:

  • Choose a sunny to partially sunny day. If it’s winter time, find a window in your home that allows the light to spill in.
  • Sit in a chair or on the ground and close your eyes.
  • Allow your face to become completely engulfed in sunlight.
  • If you are outside, tilt your face upward, as to face the sun directly.
  • Take several deep breaths and ensure you’re in a calm state before you begin the exercise.
  • When you’re ready to begin, gently move your head from side to side, so your chin is over your shoulder on each turn.
  • Do this seven to ten times and then rest for 15 seconds with your eyes remaining softly closed, facing the sun. Repeat this pattern three times and complete this activity three times a week.

As you move your head from side to side, your pupils will expand and contract. This is what will allow the pupillary capacity to better adjust to light and, thus, improve vision.

*It is crucial that you or your child keep the eyes closed during the entire exercise. Looking directly into the sun can damage vision.

2. Palming.
Tension is uncomfortable and unhealthy. When it comes to our vision, it is the number one cause of vision loss or vision issues. Palming is a highly effective way to reduce undesired pressure and strain in our eyes and entire body.

How to do the exercise:

  • Find some uninterrupted time and sit in a quiet, peaceful room with a table.
  • Take several deep breaths to relax and softly close your eyes.
  • With your eyes closed, rub your palms together until they become warm.
  • Rest your elbows softly on the table in front of you as a support and gently place each palm over each eye lid so you cannot see anything but complete darkness.
  • Allow yourself to soak in the warmth of your palms through your eyes; feel your eye muscles relaxing.
  • Remain in this position until the warmth of your palms have subsided.
  • Keep your eyes closed and rub your palms together until they become warm again.
  • Repeat this process at least three times.

Tension in our eyes creates a plethora of issues. Tension puts a substantial amount of strain on the optic nerve, leads to the degradation of our corneas and maculae, increases eye pressure, and can be responsible for headaches and migraines.

Without even realizing it, you could be causing tension and strain within your eyes. Through palming, you’re giving your eyes the relaxation and rest they need, and with consistent practice of palming, almost all eye issues can be improved.

Directional Eye Exercises to Improve Vision
Eye exercises that ask you to move your eyes in several different directions is one of the most basic ways to improve focusing skills, develop better eye movements, and stimulate the vision center in the brain. Here are two different directional eye exercises:

3. Sideways Viewing.

  • Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
  • With your fists closed, lift your arms so they are straight out in front of you, in line with your shoulders. Keep your thumbs pointing upward.
  • Close your eyes and take several deep breaths and focus on relaxing your eyes and entire body.
  • Open your eyes when you are ready to begin.
  • Pick an object or a spot on the wall that’s straight in front of you, level with your eyes.
  • Keep your head in this fixed position and your spine straight.
  • Focus on each of the following, one right after the other, by shifting only your vision (not your head):
    • The space in between the eyebrows
    • Your left thumb
    • The space in between the eyebrows
    • Your right thumb
    • The space in between the eyebrows
    • Your left thumb
    • The space in between the eyebrows
    • Your right thumb
  • Repeat this eye exercise approximately 10 to 20 times.
  • When you are done, close your eyes and allow them to rest.

4. Up and Down Viewing.

  • Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
  • Place both fists on your knees.
  • Close your eyes and take several deep breaths and focus on relaxing your eyes and entire body.
  • Open your eyes when you are ready to begin.
  • Pick an object or a spot on the wall that’s straight in front of you, level with your eyes.
  • Keep your head in this fixed position and your spine straight.
  • Position your thumbs upward.
  • Look at your right thumb.
  • Slowly raise the right arm from the knee until it is out of your eyesight.
  • Follow the motion of the right thumb upwards with your eyes while keeping your head completely still in a fixed position.
  • When the thumb is out of eyesight, slowly bring it back down to the knee (starting position) while keeping the eyes focused on it.
  • Repeat this same process with the left thumb.
  • Complete this exercise five times with each thumb.
  • When you are done, close your eyes and allow them to rest.

5. Rotational Viewing.

  • Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
  • Close your eyes and take several deep breaths and focus on relaxing your eyes and entire body.
  • Open your eyes when you are ready to begin.
  • Pick an object or a spot on the wall that’s straight in front of you, level with your eyes.
  • Keep your head in this fixed position and your spine straight.
  • Place the left hand on the left knee.
  • Hold the right fist above the right knee, in line with the right shoulder. Keep the thumb pointing upwards and elbow straight.
  • Focus your eyes on the right thumb while keeping your head still.
  • Make a circle with the thumb, keeping the elbow straight.
  • Repeat this exercise five times on the right side, each in clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.
  • Repeat the process five times with the left thumb.
  • When you are done, close your eyes and allow them to rest.

6. Near and Distant Viewing.
This eye exercise will help improve or maintain far and near vision. You can do this exercise inside or outside, sitting or standing.

  • Place an object about 10 inches from your eyes and try to focus on it for 10-15 seconds.
  • Next, place the object about 10 feet away and focus on it for 10-15 seconds.
  • Finally, place the object about 10 inches from your eyes again and try to focus on it for 10-15 seconds.
  • Alternate your near and far object focus five times.
  • Complete one entire cycle three time.

Let’s See If You’d Benefit from Visual Therapy

When the entire visual system works in harmony – moves, aligns, fixates, and focuses together – an individual begins to see the world in a whole new way.

Let the eye experts at iCare Vision assess your eyes and work with you to determine the best therapy or treatment for your unique eye concerns.

An eye examination is a quick and painless process.

Categories:

888-393-3911

For Emergencies

helloicare@icarevision.com

For General Inquiries
© 2020 iCare Vision Center
Call Now Button