How Vision Therapy Can Help Improve Reading Skills

A person’s vision system plays a significant role in their ability to learn. It’s believed that 80% of learning is visual. Any impairments involving the vision system can slow an individual’s ability to read fluently and comprehend text effectively. These challenges can hinder someone from reaching their full reading potential and prevent them from achieving academic success.

Vision therapy is an effective remedy to resolve problems impacting visual skills that make learning and reading difficult. Patients in Manlius and Syracuse, New York can find comprehensive vision therapy services at the eye care centers of Savedoff, Ciccone & Davis, Doctors of Optometry, P.C. Here, we discuss how vision therapy improves reading skills and the benefits of receiving care from our team of board-certified optometrists.

Vision Issues Impacting Reading Skills

Several vision problems can directly impact a person’s ability to read. Among the most common issues include:

• Convergence insufficiency: This eye coordination issue occurs when the eyes struggle to work together, making it hard to focus on close objects. This can cause double vision and blurry vision, leading to difficulties reading.
• Eye tracking problems: This visual impairment involves the inability to smoothly move the eyes across a page of words, which can cause skipping words or lines. 
• Visual processing disorders: These include visual-spatial deficits and visual memory deficits, which can make it hard to track, scan, and remember visual information, such as words. 
• Dyslexia: A learning disability that affects how the brain processes written language, making it difficult to read and spell accurately and fluently. 

How to Tell if Vision Causes Poor Reading Skills

While issues with learning and reading commonly stem from a vision problem, that’s not always the case. If the underlying issue is in fact due to problems with the vision system, individuals typically demonstrate the following telltale signs:

• Tilting of the head to one side or covering one eye when trying to read
• Displaying behavior problems or exhibiting a limited attention span
• Trying to avoid reading altogether
• Having comprehension issues
• Reading below grade level
• Headaches or blurred vision associated with reading or computer work
• Poor ability to sustain reading over time

Anyone displaying any of these symptoms should make an appointment with our specialists to undergo a thorough eye health examination. If a person is found to have a vision problem impacting their ability to read, the doctor can create a vision treatment plan to improve visual skills.

Vision Therapy and Reading

Vision therapy is a specialized regimen that consists of therapeutic eye exercises to develop or improve visual skills and abilities to enhance the interpretation of visual information.

Unlike optical lenses or contacts, which only correct optical vision problems, vision therapy goes deeper, delving into the neurological aspect of vision. This personalized therapy targets the brain’s ability to process visual information through personalized exercises and activities.

The skills vision therapy helps improve include:

• Binocular fusion: This is the process by which the brain combines information from both eyes to create a single, unified image, rather than double vision.
• Convergence: This visual skill refers to the eyes’ ability to move inward and focus on books, screens, and other nearby objects.
• Visual fixation: The eyes’ ability to correctly zone in on a specific image or object, such as a word in a book, is referred to as visual fixation. 
• Saccades: This visual skill involves rapid eye movements that shift the point of fixation from one place to another, such as moving the eyes from one word to the next.
• Focusing: Also known as eye focusing, this skill is the ability to see clearly at any distance and for any amount of time with minimal effort, as well as shift focus from one distance to another.

At Savedoff, Ciccone & Davis, Doctors of Optometry, P.C., vision therapy exercises are overseen by a qualified eye specialist and prescribed based on a person’s needs. The duration of vision therapy varies depending on the person’s condition and willingness to perform the exercises.

In addition to eye exercises, our vision therapy offerings involve the use of specialized vision aids. These include lenses, prisms, filters, patches, electronic targets, or balance boards. The purpose of these aids is to further enhance a person’s visual abilities to reach vision goals.

Schedule Vision Therapy Today

Just like other skills and muscles of the body, vision skills can be trained and strengthened. Vision therapy serves as an effective solution for those with vision challenges impacting their ability to learn and read.

The board-certified optometrists at Savedoff, Ciccone & Davis, Doctors of Optometry, P.C. can help patients improve reading skills through our in-depth vision services, including vision therapy. Contact us today to learn more about vision therapy for reading problems or to schedule an optical service at our Manlius or Syracuse, NY, offices.