Our commitment to your family’s optical wellness extends to the youngest members. Behavioural optometry goes beyond standard eye exams, focusing on how vision influences behaviour and learning. Our specialised services help nurture young minds, ensuring that your children have the visual foundation they need for success in academics and daily activities.
Our behavioural optometrists understand that good vision allows for efficient and quick analysis of our world to direct our behaviour and actions.
They look for the developmental causes behind the way a child’s visual system is functioning. The performance of the visual system will impact every task for which it is used.
They offer solutions to try and improve the efficiency, flexibility and comfort of the visual system to perform the tasks required in the class room and beyond.
What else does vision require?
Children, like adults, often spend a lot of the day looking at close tasks such as a book, ipad, computer or a puzzle.
- To maintain clear and accurate focus on near tasks without strain requires a high level of stamina of the focussing muscles in the eye.
- In the class room a child’s focussing muscles also need the flexibility to be able to rapidly and accurately change focus to look from a distance tasks (such as the board ) back to a near task.
When two objects are seen or when the edges appear poorly defined. This may happen when spending time reading, using a phone or on a computer. It may also occur when looking up from doing close work.
Children who struggle to accurately align their two eyes together as a team experience double vision or describe that words start running together.
- For some children difficulty with eye co ordination may result in eye strain symptoms such as headaches, sore eyes and visual fatigue.
- Other children may have no symptoms at all as they avoid reading or near tasks because it is too much work.
Poor eye teaming can also result in a loss of judgment of distances, resulting in clumsiness or difficulty with sports.
Visual perceptual skills allow a child to make sense of what they see. Everyday experiences are almost never limited to just one sense.
- Reading aloud requires the integration of visual and auditory skills.
- A child who reverses letters or numbers or shows poor page organisation may be having difficulty with her visual spatial awareness.
- Poor handwriting skills can be the result of a child’s difficulty using his vision to direct fine motor skills.
- Reduced visual memory skills can affect spelling ability and impair reading fluency.
- Competent readers use visual imagery to make meaning out of what they read.
Central and peripheral awareness difficulties can result in distractibility, decreased attention span, hyperactivity, poor comprehension and poor sports performance.
Vision Therapy
Vision therapy is a program of activities prescribed by a Behavioural Optometrist. Some of these activities may be done at the Optometrist’s practice, or you may need to do exercises at home.
To be successful, vision therapy must be done regularly and frequently. Daily practice is essential for best results. The activities are designed to be fun but have challenges. As you work through the activities, you will learn how to better control your eyes and have an improved understanding of what you are seeing and reading.
Some symptoms of poor vision:
Especially across the brow or in the temples and sometimes at the back of the head, these can develop after sitting at close work tasks like computers, smartphones or reading for extended periods.
When two objects are seen or when the edges appear poorly defined. This may happen when spending time reading, using a phone or on a computer. It may also occur when looking up from doing close work.
Losing your place when reading, rereading works or lines, difficulty understanding or remembering what you have read or reading very slowly are all examples of poor performance. When outdoors misjudging ball catching, over or under throwing, tripping over and trouble hitting the ball are also examples of poor performance.
Finishing a day at school or work and being excessively tired may be a sign of poor visual function.
When the brain ignores information coming from one eye to prevent seeing double.