These vision therapy links are actually remarkably consistent in the factual detail, and support the research I have been able to find:
* Convergence insufficiency: There is good (though not a lot) of evidence that vision therapy works. Endorsed for this diagnosis by NIH, national colleges of optometrists and many others. Check out your provider carefully, but good therapists seem to be getting consistently good results.
* Other visual processing deficits: Really haven't been tested one way or the other. Might work, might not, we don't know. Proceed with caution, but could be worth trying with an experienced provider who can tell you exactly what they're doing and why they believe it could help. Be suspicious of the oversell, though.
* Vision therapy to fix LDs or anything else: run!
What some of the articles tangle up is the distinction between vision therapy fixing LDs et al, and vision therapy fixing symptoms of visual processing deficits that might *look like LDs* (or other issues) but aren't. For example, a child who can't focus, track, or keep her eyes on the page can have reading issues that look dyslexic. Suggesting VT might help with her reading does not require a claim that VT cures dyslexia, nor a claim that dyslexia is really a visual processing issue.
Caveat emptor! There's a ton of snake oil salesmen out there. But that doesn't mean the real thing doesn't also exist.
Last edited by Platypus101; 07/07/15 05:26 AM.
