Some children struggle with understanding the world around them. This difficulty in understanding may make a child struggle in school with homework or paying attention in the classroom. Struggling with reading, intense near work and expressing their thoughts are just a few obstacles that children must overcome. Rereading a passage may be very frustrating for children. Vision therapy (VT) can help retrain the brain without the need for medication, in ways that can aid the child with vision difficulties.

A series of eye movement activities as well as the use of colored and prism lenses can further aid in the progression of the child’s success. These lenses train the brain to perceive the world around them in a different but helpful way. The activities that are performed in VT once a week will be repeated at home for 15 minutes for five days a week. This is practice for the eyes so that the movements can eventually become second nature for the child. Once the child experiences these changes from the lenses and activities presented in vision therapy, the brain will adjust accordingly and be able to understand the visual cues in the world around them.

There are various positive outcomes from doing VT with a child who is struggling. A child who was described as strong-willed with problems following instructions and interpreting social cues, for example, saw tremendous growth in interpreting social cues after VT. She was better able to control verbal and physical impulses and apply herself to her work, with improved spatial awareness. She also had increased legibility and ease of handwriting. The child saw great coordination improvement with catching and throwing balls, hopping, skipping and jumping.

For more information about vision therapy, visit Arizona Vision Therapy Center at 6602 E. Carondelet, in Tucson. Connect at 520-886-8800 or AZVisionTherapy.com. See ad, page 25.