Great Lakes Vision Rehabilitation at Excel Neuro-Optometric Clinic

“There are many potential dysfunctions that can affect vision and in turn make learning and academics or work more challenging. Assessing the visual system in its entirety is important to discover any visual deficits that are hindering potential. Assessing the patient based on an evidence-based, behavioral, and developmental aspect, Excel can help with providing more potential by removing the visual hurdles.” 

​

Click: Association between ADHD and Vision Problems

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Read and Vision Therapy Research (click to read more!)

​

Reading involves many skills, and visual skills are part of the process. When an individual reads, they must be able to track their eyes across the line and from line to line, keep the print clear (accommodation), align their eyes as a team (convergence), and visually process the letters, words, and numbers for comprehension. Although comprehension is a neurological component of its own, the visual system helps to relay information to the brain. Simply looking at print on a page is nothing more than viewing a combination of characters (I.e., letters, numbers, and words) and gathering the information, visually, to be processed by the brain. If an individual is having difficulty with the basic visual skills for reading, then symptoms such as blurred vision, words moving on the page, skipping lines or losing place with reading, tiredness, headaches, aversion to reading, and lack of confidence may be present. 

​

The English language is exceptionally challenging for the process of reading. One of the greatest examples of a complex English word to process via language and vision is ocean. The word ocean phonetically would appear to be spelled, “o-SHUN”. However, an individual must visually process the  -cean and through language and memory recall that makes the “shun” sound. 

​

Given the complexity of reading and vision, the doctors and therapists at Excel Neuro-Optometric Clinic assess the necessary visual skills to gather information for visual processing, and the skills for visual information processing. The evaluations at Excel address both the skills needed to read efficiently and how the information is processed once it is gathered. Many diagnoses may cause difficulties with reading, and they may be masquerading as a true visual problem or be in conjunction with reading difficulties. These include, but are not limited to, ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, traumatic brain injuries, and more! 

​

If you believe your visual system is causing difficulties, or you have been diagnosed with a learning disability, traumatic brain injury, dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, then it is important to rule-out any additional visual dysfunctions that may be contributing to the difficulties. In addition, with reading and learning being multi-sensory faucets it is important to understand the relationship between the sensory system and development. 

Excel does not diagnose or treat learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, etc. Our clinic works to improve the visual system to remove the challenges associated with the visual skills needed for reading and learning. In addition, many patients have had improvements in spelling, writing, and math when learning to be more visual and improving their visual skills! 

​

PLEASE CALL OUR CLINIC TODAY AND SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH ONE OF OUR DOCTORS TO GET AN IN-DEPTH ASSESSMENT OF HOW YOUR VISUAL SYSTEM MAY BE CONTRIBUTING TO YOUR CHALLENGES IN LEARNING, READING, SPELLING, AND MORE! 

​

There is evidence in support of visual abnormalities and associations with various other diagnoses. Below is a reference list, and recommended readings that can help potentially answer some of the questions related to vision, reading and learning. Please note the following is not a comprehensive list. 

​

1.    Review of Intervention Strategies for Patients with Learning Problems  

2.    The Link Between Vision and Language 

3.    Learning to See = Seeing to Learn: Vision, Learning & Behavior in Children (available on Amazon) 

4.    Bellato A, Perna J, Ganapathy PS, et. Al. Association between ADHD and vision problems. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nature. 2022;28;410-22.

5.    Hussaindeen JR, Shah P, Ramani KK, et. Al. Efficacy of vision therapy in children with learning disability and associated binocular vision anomalies. J Optom. 2018;11(1);40-8. 

6. The American Academy of Optometry's Position: Optometric Care of the Struggling Student

​