Vision Development and Rehab for Special Needs Patients

Treating children and adults with special needs is often a team approach. We will work together with the necessary professionals (educators, occupational therapists, speech-language therapists, physical therapists, psychologists, etc.) to have each patient performing at their highest potential.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD is being diagnosed with increasing frequency in both children and adults. Because vision therapy improves many skills that allow a person to pay attention, it is recommended that anyone diagnosed with ADHD should have a complete evaluation by a behavioral optometrist. Vision is more than clarity, and is a complex combination of learned skills, including tracking, fixation, focus change, binocular fusion, and visualization. When all of these are well developed, children and adults can sustain attention, read and write without careless errors, give meaning to what they hear and see, and rely less on movement to stay alert.

Additionally, it is important for parents to realize that if their child is non-verbal or autistic, that does not mean visual problems have to go undiagnosed and untreated. All school aged children, including children with disabilities, should have a full visual examination. Because sensory dysfunction is present in all individuals with autism and because vision problems are more common in individuals with sensory impairments, it would benefit parents of children with autism greatly to become more knowledgeable about visual impairments and possible remedies through glasses or vision therapy.

Furthermore, our doctors have extensive experience working with children diagnosed with learning disabilities such as dyslexia or non-verbal learning disorders. Learning disabilities often coincide with visual disorders such as poor eye tracking, eye teaming, or visual processing. Good vision skills can be trained and can provide a solid foundation for academic interventions, learning, and academic success.