One Diagnosis Doesn’t Fit All
Being diagnosed with a visual processing disorder or pediatric concussion doesn’t mean the same thing for every child. In fact, there is a wide range of conditions – each with their own sets of symptoms. Even with 20/20 vision, your child may have trouble reading, learning or focusing in class due to issues with visual processing.
Here are examples of what we treat – and what your child might be seeing right now.
Sometimes, children may experience higher-level difficulties that result in letters and words not being in easily recognizable patterns.
For example, letters might appear as strange symbols. As well, your child’s brain may struggle to understand how letters form words, and how those words connect to one another. This makes reading and understanding information an extremely difficult task requiring intense concentration.
Visual Processing Dysfunction
Sometimes, children may experience higher-level difficulties that result in letters and words not being in easily recognizable patterns.
For example, letters might appear as strange symbols. As well, your child’s brain may struggle to understand how letters form words, and how those words connect to one another. This makes reading and understanding information an extremely difficult task requiring intense concentration.
If your child has been dealing with long-term eye coordination issues or eye-related trauma, it can affect the way that their brain interprets what they’re seeing.
When your child reads, letters might look jumbled or like they’re facing the wrong way. Words can also appear to have letters in the wrong spot or out of order. When this happens, entire sentences stop making sense or get skipped entirely.
Laterality and Form Perception Problems
If your child has been dealing with long-term eye coordination issues or eye-related trauma, it can affect the way that their brain interprets what they’re seeing.
When your child reads, letters might look jumbled or like they’re facing the wrong way. Words can also appear to have letters in the wrong spot or out of order. When this happens, entire sentences stop making sense or get skipped entirely.
To understand the visual signals they’re receiving, our eyes need to work in close coordination with each other. When your child looks at something up close, their eyes should move closer to each other. And when they look at a far away object, your child’s eyes should move apart. But when this eye coordination doesn’t develop properly, words can become jumbled, slide into each other or even split into two.
Research shows that up to 15% of all school-aged children are affected by vergence problems.
Vergence Problems
To understand the visual signals they’re receiving, our eyes need to work in close coordination with each other. When your child looks at something up close, their eyes should move closer to each other. And when they look at a far away object, your child’s eyes should move apart. But when this eye coordination doesn’t develop properly, words can become jumbled, slide into each other or even split into two.
Research shows that up to 15% of all school-aged children are affected by vergence problems.
Our eyes work like camera lenses, and adjust to see objects at different distances. The muscles inside our eyes tighten when we look at objects that are up close and relax when they’re farther away. But sometimes the wires get crossed, and the muscles don’t work as they should.
When this happens, your child might complain that words in books or on screens look blurry most of the time, or that they keep going in and out of focus. Sometimes, everything might look blurry for a few seconds, and then suddenly become clear when your child changes what they’re looking at.
Accommodative Problems
Our eyes work like camera lenses, and adjust to see objects at different distances. The muscles inside our eyes tighten when we look at objects that are up close and relax when they’re farther away. But sometimes the wires get crossed, and the muscles don’t work as they should.
When this happens, your child might complain that words in books or on screens look blurry most of the time, or that they keep going in and out of focus. Sometimes, everything might look blurry for a few seconds, and then suddenly become clear when your child changes what they’re looking at.
How can you spot your child’s visual dysfunction?
Detecting visual problems in young children can be challenging, especially when they may lack the verbal skills to communicate what they’re experiencing. That said, here are a few signs to keep in mind if you suspect that your child may have visual dysfunction:
- Reading below school grade level
- Reluctance or unwillingness to read or read out loud
- Excessive fidgeting when it’s time to read or do other learning-related activities
- Difficulty summarizing or remembering what they’ve read
- Signs of frustration
- Resists going to school or doing homework
- Low attention span
- Frequent bathroom breaks during reading-related activities
- Covers one eye, tilting their head, or frequently blinks their eyes when looking at distant objects, such as a blackboard.
Identifying a vision disorder in childhood is important. Why? Because your child’s rapidly developing brain can be effectively retrained with vision therapy – leading to a permanent, positive change.
Personalized Vision Therapy for Your Child’s Success
