Dyslexia And Vision Therapy- Can Vision Therapy Tracking Training Assist?
Dyslexia and vision therapy have been associated for many years, even while in some circles the link is hotly debated amongst professionals.
The definition of dyslexia is very hard to find, since the actual diagnosis appears to depend on a number of criterion, and varies from practitioner to practitioner. Dyslexia may be the most over diagnosed of learning disabilities for this reason, for the reason that there is not a steady, universally agreed remedial definition.
As an Optometrist working in the sphere of children and learning disabilities for over 20 years, I observe the link between dyslexia and vision therapy on a daily basis. Yet in my field I do not cope with the kind of diagnosing dilemmas that those diagnosing dyslexia face, because vision therapy, tracking, focus and eye coordination disorders, sequencing and other remedial definitions that I cope with are easy to identify, and within the sphere are mostly agreed upon.
Vision therapy can offer help for dyslexia in countless areas. For example, vision therapy can get better eye tracking, which enables the dyslexia sufferer to stabilize their vision and helps them preserve their place in the book as they read.
Despite the claims of ophthalmology that dyslexia and vision therapy have no connection, thousands of children with learning disabilities worldwide have found that vision therapy tracking exercises have aided in their remedial reading. It makes sense, doesn't it? If we send a child to tennis coaching and teach the muscles, eyes, arms and legs, to be more accurate, then the child's tennis ability will most often advance. Similarly, vision therapy tracking exercises will sharpen the visual skills of the child, thus improving their flow when reading, stabilizing their space world and helping them to triumph over at least some of the definition of dyslexia. Dyslexia and vision therapy do have some alignment, at least in the discipline of vision therapy tracking.
And other areas of vision therapy are comparable to tracking exercises but that they help other aspects of remedial reading. Focus and eye coordination exercises help the child with learning disabilities control their focus on the book, visualization therapy helps their bear in mind and spelling, reversal therapy can prevent them writing letters backwards, and all of these combine to vision therapy tracking to show that there is, indeed a close relationship between dyslexia and vision therapy.
So, given that there is no dependable, universally agreed upon dyslexia definition or remedial definition, worried parents deserve the right to at least investigate the association between dyslexia and vision therapy. Anything less than this is really a failure on the part of professionals to touch on every possible relationship that could help the anxious and often bewildered parents of children with learning disabilities. Whether they work at easy vision therapy tracking exercises, or more complex therapy programs such as Learning @ Lightspeed, we want to share with the parents of children with learning disabilities worldwide the fact that there is a positive, and very often fruitful relationship between dyslexia and vision therapy.
Darin Browne is a Behavioral Optometrist who lives in Queensland, Australia. He has just developed an incredible Home Based Vision Therapy Course, which offers over 180 pages of teaching and therapies, empowering parents to educate their own children’s visual skills and see positive, sustainable progress in their reading, writing and spelling. For a FREE Ecourse which includes some of these therapies, check out Dyslexia and Vision Therapy
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