Who can potentially benefit from Behavioural Optometry?

Behavioural Optometry may help where:

• There is immaturity or developmental delay in visual or movement skills
• There is a decline in visual skills through injury or illness
• There are concentration and absorption issues (reading and listening)
• There are diagnosed or undiagnosed learning issues
• There is variable and unreliable vision without ocular pathology
• There is discomfort or headache on prolonged visual concentration
• There is an unexplained change in your balance posture or visual skills
• There is a need to enhance visual performance, as for sport

What are typical symptoms that indicate a vision problem that could be helped by Behavioural Optometry?

• Blurring over time at any distance.
• Delay in adjusting attention across space with blur or spatial confusion.
• Movement, merging, double vision or spatial confusion of small (such as letters) or large objects (such as walls).
• Tripping over thin air, bumping edges, misjudging/knocking/spilling objects.
• Insecurity with low heights or change in level, such as stepping stones
• Poor hand to eye co-ordination, such as colouring out of lines or poor layout on writing or difficulty catching balls.
• Uncomfortable eyes on prolonged visual attention, rubbing, squinting, redness, blinking, closing one eye.
• Poor postures for visual tasks, such as close, crouching, dipping or tilting head, leaning back or constant motion.

Why would I consider Behavioural Optometry for myself?

You would probably be considering a Behavioural Optometry Assessment if you were struggling to achieve something that is important to you and finding it difficult.

If your difficulty has anything to do with the accuracy of what you see, or the effort that it takes to see or concentrate, or your ability to process or retain what you see then Behavioural Optometry may be just what you are looking for.

Why would I consider Behavioural Optometry for my child?

70% to 90% of all information reaches us through our eyes and over 50% of the brain is dedicate to processing visual information and most classroom tasks are best accomplished using a visual strategy.

Sadly, though, vision is usually the last sense explored when a child struggles in the classroom. 

We use our visual system to take in information, to identify, match, replicate, retain, manipulate and recall information, and to guide both small (hand writing) and large (negotiation around objects, catching balls) body movements and to support other systems, such as in maintaining appropriate posture (balance).

However, we generally think of seeing only in terms of the ability to “see” small detail (sight), and not in the wider context of taking in, processing and using all the information coming in through the eyes.

Behavioural Optometry can give a more complete understanding of how your child’s visual system works and how inadequate or immature visual skills could be hampering classroom performance.