Vision Therapy in Optometry

Vision Therapy is a great part of optometry. A patient yesterday asked me how come more optometrist don’t do vision therapy and I had to think about it before giving the answer. Ultimately I settled on: 1. Lack of interest in working with a pediatric population 2. Lack of training during school 3. Special interest in another specialty such as contact lenses, ocular disease, or refractive surgery. I did not say this to the patient but I think another large reason is because the ODs that I know question the effectiveness and impact vision therapy has on changing lives. You can read all the research you want that proves the efficacy of vision therapy (like the CITT study), but until you have witnessed it yourself you might not buy it. For many children, learning is a long process that can take months at a time. To see true improvement is impossible in the school clinic schedule where you might only see the same patient for 10 weeks before changing your schedule.  For me, I’ve followed the process and development of many young patients and have seen dramatic improvements in a private practice setting. 

These improvements are easy to see from an OD perspective such as: Improved NPC, vergence ranges, accommodative amplitudes and facility, oculomotor etc. – to improved scores on standardized tests such as the TVPS.(1% at the initial testing, 90% after VT). But the real meat of it is the patient response. I’ve had a mom with tears in her eye after graduating her child from vision therapy. I’ve gotten letters, cute finger paintings, and even a chicken feather from one of my kids who apparently raises chickens in thanks for changing their lives. That’s all the justification I need, forget the rest.

Serving the communities of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin, Santa Ana, Hungtington Beach, and Fountain Valley. Schedule a visit with Dr. Valerie Lam or Dr. Thanh Mai to learn more. Our optometry practice is located in Costa Mesa at 3151 Airway Ave. Suite J2, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.