Beyond Glasses: How Vision Rehabilitation Helps Kids With Learning Challenges

As a parent, you want your child’s future to be as bright as possible. And if they’re among the 1 in 5 Americans with a learning or attention challenge, you’ll likely need to take some extra steps to achieve that bright future.

As a group of practices that specialize in neuro-optometry, our team at DeyeNAMICS wants to highlight one way you can give your child a boost — vision rehabilitation. This therapeutic approach goes beyond glasses to improve kids’ vision skills, which will serve them especially well if they face learning challenges.

Learning Challenges and Vision Issues

Let’s look at the connection between learning disabilities and vision issues. While research is ongoing, the link between the two is far from a foregone conclusion. Having a learning challenge doesn’t automatically mean vision is affected, however it can be an important factor to consider.

Research shows kids with certain learning issues do tend to have poorer vision . One study of kids with autism spectrum disorder found they have a higher rate of vision problems, such as astigmatism. Another study found kids with vision issues are 200% more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Even though a direct cause-and-effect relationship between learning challenges and vision issues hasn’t been identified, they may be related. This isn’t surprising because not being able to effectively see the material one is learning, makes learning it more difficult. Taking steps to improve vision can only benefit kids with learning issues.

Vision Therapy for Better Learning

Regardless of the exact connection between the two, vision therapy and other rehabilitative techniques can support development in kids with learning challenges.

No two vision rehabilitative techniques are alike because we tailor them to each child’s needs. Yet the goals of the therapy often include:

• Improving visual skills
• Re-training a child’s visual system
• Improving the brain-eye connection
• Encouraging better visual processing and understanding
• Improving hand-eye coordination
• Speeding up visual processing
• Improving how the eyes work together

Combined, these vision therapeutic techniques can improve reading, learning, and attention skills to help your child better navigate their educational and learning environment.

Vision Rehabilitation Tools

We use many tools and techniques in therapy, such as:

• Eye exercises
• Specialized lenses, such as prism lenses
• Training glasses
• Patches
• Filters
• Balance boards

If you’re curious about what might benefit your child, a quick consultation in one of our offices will provide a more detailed picture.

Explore Vision Therapy for Your Child

To learn more about vision therapy and learning challenges and how your child might benefit, please contact us at one of our offices in Sacramento, Bellflower, or Valencia, California; Guildford, Connecticut; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; or Plano, Texas, to schedule an appointment.