What to Expect
Traditionally it is thought that we become less able to adapt and grow as we age and therefore it is impossible for our vision to improve. However, researchers, including the Israeli neurologist Avi Karni, researching primarily in areas of vision,
have found that people make very rapid improvement over a short period of time and then it levels out.
Therefore, vision therapy consists of three important components:
Initial & follow up screenings
In-office sessions with your therapist
Doing your at-home vision exercises
Initial Screening
We will take a look at the entire visual process of you or your child. The doctor will observe while the patient is asked to look at various kinds of visual information and then do a particular task. These tasks start as very simple and gradually become more complex and requiring greater visual abilities ... continuing until the patient's limit is discovered. What results is an accurate patient profile which displays areas of inadequte or non-existent capacity as well as good or even exceptional development. As a result, the doctor will be able to suggest an appropriate treatment plan consisting of both in-office sessions and at-home exercises.
In-Office Sessions
During in-office sessions, you will be performing 8-10 minute sessions, in a controlled environment, and addressing a specific aspect of vision that we want to help you improve. You will be performing each action several times in those few minutes. According to researcher Karni, you will retain a new level of ability for about 8 hours. Karni further discovered that ability continues to improve over time, and is maximum after 5 to 10 training sessions 1 to 3 days apart. Once a maximal level of performance was reached, most of the gain was retained
over months and even years.
At-Home Exercises
This is where the at-home exercises come into being. Rather than having many in-office sessions, good results are maintained to reach maximum ability by doing the exercises at home. Best results come from regular, short sessions. Faithfully doing these simple exercises, as prescribed, results in profound and lasting changes. They exercises are, naturally, done on the days that you do not have in-office sessions.
References:
Karni, Avi, "Adult Cortical Plasticity and Reorganization", Science & Medicine, January
February 1997, PP 24-33;
Paul Harris, OD, FCOVD, FACBO, FAAO
