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BEHAVIOURAL OPTOMETRY: At Strachan Eyecare Plus our Optometrists follow the fundamental principle of Behavioural Optometry which is trying to maximize vision for the well being of the whole person, not just the ability to read letters off the eye chart in-office.
Vision is the dominant sense, and impacts on all areas of human development and performance. Thus our objective is always to enhance and optimize visual performance. This is often achieved through the use of Vision Therapy, possibly as well as the use of glasses or contact lenses.
Advice regarding appropriate "visual hygiene" may also be given.
Behavioural principals are particularly relevant to children and learning.
CHILDREN'S VISION & LEARNING DIFFICULTIES: At Strachan Eyecare Plus our Optometrists have a special interest in children's vision and visually related learning difficulties. Thus when we examine a child who is experiencing problems with academic performance, we follow an examination protocol consisting of two parts:
1. PRIMARY OPTOMETRIC EXAMINATION: This is a "visual efficiency examination" and will determine the status of the "visual hardware". It consists of a number of tests designed to determine if the child has healthy eyes and can see clearly and comfortably without undue effort or stress for long periods of time. This examination is an essential first step in our assessment of all children.
It should be noted that the demands on a child's eyes increase markedly as the child proceeds through primary school whilst at the same time their eyes are growing and developing rapidly, and so routine review of these skills is recommended at least every two years for all children, regardless of academic performance.
2. DEVELOPMENTAL VISUAL PERCEPTUAL ASSESSMENT: This is a "visual information processing evaluation" and provides understanding of the "visual software" at the higher brain levels in the visual processing pathways after the eye itself. These tests probe the child's ability to understand, interpret and remember what they see, together with the child's ability to link vision to language.
All tests used are well standardized, enabling us to determine whether your child's present visual perceptual development is at the expected level for their age or grade.
Such evaluation is recommended for primary school children who are experiencing learning difficulties, or who are not performing at the level it is felt they should be capable of.
Perceptual evaluation can also help in assessing a pre-school child's "readiness" for school.
Screening tests of auditory skills, language and motor skills may also be included, and recommendations for referral to other appropriate specialists will be made on indication eg. Educational and Developmental Psychologists, Paediatricians, Educational Audiologists, Speech/Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Behavioural Neurotherapy Practitioners, Tutors etc.
Screening testing with coloured overlays can also be arranged on indication (Irlens Syndrome or Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome).
It is important for parents to realise that children with excellent clarity of eye-sight as measured on a letter chart can still have visually related learning difficulties.
A Developmental Visual Perceptual Assessment will investigate the following skills:
Eye-Tracking - Students must be able to track their eyes accurately across a row of print and from the end of one row to the start of the next. Difficulty can cause students to lose place or skip words or lines which can affect reading speed, fluency and comprehension.
Visual Form Perception - This is the ability to gain meaning from visual symbols using the following skills :-
Visual discrimination: This is the basic foundation skill for both of the essential elementary reading methods that children must master, phonics and sight word processing.
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