VISION THERAPY:

Vision therapy is based on the fact that vision is learned. The ability to see and correctly interpret what is seen does not appear automatically at birth. It develops over a lifetime and is shaped by the experiences a person has.

Some people may skip steps in their vision development. Others may not receive the necessary visual experiences or learning opportunities to develop their vision skills adequately.

Vision problems are very common in individuals with autism. Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders have hyper-sensitive vision. They are unable to visually "hold still", and rely on a constant scanning of visual information in order to ascertain meaning. They have problems integrating their central and peripheral vision, and often seem to be looking off to the side of an object. Many individuals with autism are not able to use their central vision system for any length of time, and are constantly distracted by what is going on around them. They are not able to get detailed information about their environment, because they cannot use their central system properly. Seeing that the visual system relates to motor, thinking, speech and perceptual abilities, it follows that these areas will also be influenced by poor visual skills. Because they do not integrate the two visual systems well, individuals with autism may sometimes shut down their peripheral system altogether, and become fixated on an activity for excessive periods of time.

Some of the behavior that indicates that a child may have visual problems include:

• Poor eye contact
• Difficulty paying attention visually
• Unusual reaction to light
• Excessive visual searching
• Clumsiness - poor judgments of the space around them
• Difficulty going up and down stairs
• Easily distracted by things going on around them
• Poor eye hand coordination
• Unusual color sensitivities
• Fixation on a task for excessive lengths of time