Why Vision Therapy for Students?
I am Dr. Ronald Gall, an optometrist in Oakville, Ontario where I offer excellence in vision therapy at the Oakville Centre for Vision. At the office, I care and listen to may patients needs, and I am excited when they reach their potential and achieve success.
My approach for excellence in vision therapy was borne out of my love and passion for it and desire for life long learning, for best patient care. After undergraduate university in science and my 4-year optometry doctorate, I have earned two Fellowships, a Diplomate status and a Master’s in vision therapy.
Why vision therapy?
It is important for students who are working twice as hard for their academic success.
My approach is to help parents understand their student’s visual skills and visual symptoms, and how they are connected to learning. Vision is highly related to learning since over 80% the information delivered to the brain is filtered through the eyes and visual system. When students are not reaching their school potential, then in most cases (over 75%), there are visual disorders causing learning interference.
At the Foundations for Learning Centre our goal is to enhance vision and its learning connection, which in turn, improves the natural curiosity of learning and performance in school. This is for all students from grade-school to university.
At my office, I complete an Initial Assessment which is a critical appraisal revealing visual disorders upsetting the learning process, along with its associated visual symptoms. This 2-hour Assessment goes far beyond the basic eye exam and 20/20 vision clarity, and confirms if a student is a candidate for vision therapy. Twelve visual skills are tested in two main areas: visual efficiency skills and vision information processing skills
Visual Efficiency Skills (intake of visual information)
- Visual Acuity Balance (between the eyes)
- Eye focusing (eye-accommodation similar to how a camera-focus on a smart phone)
- Eye Teaming (ability to turn the eyes “in” from the board at school to the text in hand)
- Eye Tracking – speed
- Eye Tracking – accuracy
- Reading Eye Movements – precise micro eye movements similar to the motion of a Karaoke ball over the lyrics of a song – reliant on good eye tracking speed (4) and accuracy (5)
Visual Information Processing Skills (making sense from what is seen)
- Right-Left Awareness (measures letter and number reversals)
- Form Perception (similar to finding a tree in the forest, or proof-reading text)
- Visual Processing Speed
- Visual Attention (allocation of visual attention while ignoring extraneous information)
- Visual Memory
- Visual-Motor Integration (ability to create an identical copy below the original image)
If two or more of the 12 visual skills appraised are significantly below normal then these visual impediments are likely causing learning disruption.
Good news! Vision problems that cause learning interference are treatable – 9 out of 10 students improve their visual skills and symptoms, and school performance through vision therapy.
I invite you to connect with me via email with any questions or comments at: DrGall@oakvillecentreforvision.com
Feel free to visit my website and connect with my Team, as needed. We are always here to help
www.oakvillecentreforvision.com
I look forward to any of your emails and perhaps meeting you in person at my office to discuss vision, learning and enjoyable clear comfortable vision.
Have a great day!
Dr. Gall
drgall@oakvillecentreforvision.com
YouTube Channel: Oakville Centre for Vision