Vision Therapy

What is Vision Therapy?

As a former teacher and now an optometrist Dr. Cline would like to share with you what he has learned about vision. Many educators, parents and students think vision and eyesight are the same. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. Vision involves everything that allows you to understand what it is you see. Vision allows you to know and understand where you are in space. It allows you to know and understand where something else is in space. Vision works with the balance system of the inner ear. Vision allows you to see or imagine a person, object or scene and tell someone else about it through language.

Vision is composed of skills that allow you to gather information and process information. We gather information through tracking it, seeing it single with two eyes, and focusing the lens in the eye to see it clearly. Once information is gathered it is processed. We process information through acquired visual perceptual skills i.e. visual discrimination, visual memory, etc. and visual motor skills (eye-hand coordination skills).

Vision is also composed of a central system and peripheral system that allows us to see detail at the same time that we can be aware of objects in our peripheral vision.

Concerning eyesight, it is your ability to distinguish a certain size letter (known as a 20/20 letter) at 20 feet. That is all.

Use of the visual systems

The visual system was designed for hunting, fishing, farming and locating danger. Note, these are all distance activities. In our developed society the visual system is "parked" at near for computers, reading, test taking, etc. So we are taking a system meant to work at distance and using it at near for longer and longer periods of time. Many times the visual system will experience stress or strain while doing these intense nearpoint activities. The visual system often finds ways to adapt to this stress. Ways of adaptations are:

The use of lenses and or vision therapy can make working at nearpoint easier and more comfortable so that vision does not interfere with learning.

Vision is not a given

Vision is learned and earned. The visual system at birth is like a blank slate that is written upon by interaction with the environment. Children are not born with the ability to draw triangles, but with time and interaction with their environment they will some day will be able to do so. So if a child is having a tracking problem, a focusing problem, a convergence (eye teaming problem causing double vision) a perceptual problem vision therapy can teach and train the visual system these abilities so that learning is made easier.

If you child is:

Your child may have a LEARNING RELATED VISION problem that is interfering with learning.

Vision Therapy can train the visual system to track, focus, use the two eyes to work together as one, to coordinate the hand with the brain and the eye, to discriminate the differences between to similar objects but yet are different, to remember items in sequence and train vision to work with the whole body.

Because vision and vision skills needed for learning are earned and learned they can be trained. Getting the visual system trained can make learning easier and more productive. Trying to learn without a good visual system is like trying to drive a car without a good engine. The good news is once visual skills are learned for the most part they never have to be re-learned. Many students struggle in school because of an undiagnosed but very treatable vision problem. As one parent put it to me: "Vision Therapy is an investment in my child's learning and education."

Kevin B. Cline, O.D. FCOVD (Board certified in learning related vision problems.)

Trevor R. Askew, O.D.

Wichita Vision Care
12111 W. Maple,
Suite 125 Wichita, KS 67235
Phone (316) 832-0088
Fax (316) 832-0029


Mon. Weds. Thurs. Fri. 9a.m.-5p.m
Tues. 12p.m.-7p.m.

What is vision and what is vision therapy?

Vision and Vision Therapy
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Common signs of a vision problem.

Do your eyes get tired after using the computer?