The Dr. Bill Takeshita Foundation

Last Modified: Fri, 17 Aug 2007

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Vision therapy is a specialized field of optometry that treats a variety of vision problems including blurred sight due to amblyopia, crossed and turned eyes (strabismus) eye muscle coordination problems, and visual processing disorders. Vision therapy does not treat learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, attention deficit disorder, or hyperactivity.

Optometrists who specialize in vision therapy receive pos-graduate training through residency programs and some will earn Fellowship recognition by the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. In some cases, certified vision therapists will work under the supervision of optometrists and provide vision therapy treatments.

Vision therapy treatment programs generally consist of weekly office visits along with home activities for duration of 3 to 6 months. Lenses, prisms, filters, colored glasses, and specialized equipment are used to stimulate the visual centers of the brain and teach the brain how to coordinate the eyes together as a team . Vision therapy is not a series of eye muscle exercises nor does it incorporate activities such as looking towards the sun, massaging the eyes, or other popular exercises of the 1930’s prescribed by Dr. Bates. Vision therapy provides an environment that stimulates the various regions of the brain to improve clarity of sight, tracking eye movement skills, eye muscle coordination, and visual processing. In many cases, the improvement of visual skills enables students to read faster, copy from the board more accurately, and earn better grades. However, students with learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, and attention problems may continue to have academic problems even after their vision problems have been treated due to the fact that the primary cause of their academic difficulties are not related to vision.

Vision therapy began as an alternative to eye muscle surgery to treat patients who had eye muscle problems. Strabismus is the term used to describe eyes that do not aligned correctly. Convergent strabismus is when the eyes cross while divergent strabismus is when the eyes turn outward. Vision therapy is a successful alternative to eye muscle surgery for patients with mild to moderate strabismus. The manner in which it works is quite simple in that the brain controls the muscles of the eyes. Each eye has six eye muscles that move the eyes in different directions and one muscle that shifts the focus from far to near. When the muscles do not coordinate together, it can result in strabismus. Vision therapy incorporates activities in which one eyes sees one image and the other eye sees a different image and the goal is to fuse the two images to form a single, clear image. The net result of these activities is the brain developing the ability to control the eye muscles similar to the manner that piano lessons teach the brain to control the finger muscles to play the piano.

In cases of severe mis-alignment of the eyes, optometrists and ophthalmologists may work together as a team. Ophthalmologists perform surgery to straighten the eyes while optometrists provide post surgical vision therapy to teach the brain to coordinate the muscles. This can reduce the risk of the eyes turning in the future.