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Vision therapy/orthoscopics/behavioural optometry

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I have been looking into vision testing/treatments for ASD children. I started off down one path and then found all these other things so now I am confused!

 

Please can anyone clarify what and if there is a difference between orthoscopics, vision therapy and behavioural optometry or are they all part of the same process of evaulation and treatment. ie. could an optician/optometrist assess and treat with coloured lenses and vision therapy programmes?

 

I have followed some threads but still can't quite get my head around the differences and what path I may be best to take.

 

Many thanks

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Hello

 

Until March last year, i had to wear colorimeter lenses prescribed for me by an optometrist. i had severe scotopic sensitivity syndrome back in 1996 which went away and was confirmed as "either so mild that is untreatable or no longer an issue for you".

 

The lenses i wore used the colours that are on the opposite side of a physics colour wheel. i had red, violet and green which meant that green, yellow and red light (respectively) were causing my brain to overload.

 

The best analogy i can use is that making filter coffee without filter paper ends up with a mess, the filter is the colour(s) of lenses your child requires the coffee is information going into your childs brain through the eyes, the well formed coffee is your brain receiving the correct information.

 

"Symptoms

 

* movement of print

* blurring of print

* letters changing shape or size

* letters fading or becoming darker

* patterns appearing, sometimes describes as “worms” or “rivers” running through print

* illusions of colour – blobs of colour on the page or colours surrounding letters or words

* rapid tiring

* headache or eye-strain

 

Signs

 

* moving closer to or away from page

* becoming restless

* using finger as a marker

* skipping words and lines

* rubbing eyes and blinking excessively

* low self esteem

"

Source: http://www.ceriumoptical.com/vistech/visual-stress.aspx

 

"Studies have shown that 12-15% of the population are affected by Irlen Syndrome. However, it is largely undiagnosed because:

 

* it is not an obvious problem.

* it is not identified by standard visual and medical examinations or by educational and psychological assessments.

* sufferers think that the perceptual distortions that they experience are "normal". They assume that everyone else perceives the page and the environment as they do and also experience the same physical discomfort.

 

The main symptoms of Irlen Syndrome are listed below.

 

* AD(H)D

* Attention and concentration

* Behaviour

* Brightness and glare

* Depth perception and spatial awareness

* Distortions of words

* Distortions in the environment

* Dyslexic type problems

* Effects on reading

* Effects on writing

* Effects on music and maths

* Headaches & migraines

* Physical symptoms and discomfort

* Poor motivation

* Reading Problems

* Sensitivity to certain colours and patterns

* Sensitivity to light

* Stress and work performance

* Underachievement

" Source: http://www.irlenuk.com/irlen-symptoms-overview.htm

 

"visual stress" googled can come up with many different websites, the ones i found were the most useful to me following my diagnosis were,

http://www.crossboweducation.com/What%20is%20Visual%20Stress.htm

 

i recommend you use the colorimeter method instead of the Irlen method. it is cheaper and just as effective than the Irlen method. We used the Irlen method at 1st (£300) but the 2nd time around went to a nearer location for the colorimeter method (£75).

 

Note i am just a person who has had this condition and im not trying to sell you anything. It mentions problems with testing children under the age of 8 years, but i think they mean NT kids.

 

good luck

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can't help with all of the above but yes a specialist opptition may beable to help. i saw one a year ago and now have specialist tinted lenses which have made a lot of difference. his name is Ian jordan he is based in glasgow but belive there are some others around the contry if you email him (though i traveled there and was worth it)

 

his web site has other info http://www.jordanseyes.com/index.htm

I have been looking into vision testing/treatments for ASD children. I started off down one path and then found all these other things so now I am confused!

 

Please can anyone clarify what and if there is a difference between orthoscopics, vision therapy and behavioural optometry or are they all part of the same process of evaulation and treatment. ie. could an optician/optometrist assess and treat with coloured lenses and vision therapy programmes?

 

I have followed some threads but still can't quite get my head around the differences and what path I may be best to take.

 

Many thanks

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We've been trying to get ds's visual problems sorted for several years now. This is what I've discovered so far. (Can't guarantee it's all correct and would be very interested in any further info!)

 

Vision therapy is a term used to describe a whole range of therapies for different visual problems.

 

An optometrist, or opthalmic optician is someone qualified to test vision and prescribe lenses.

A behavioural optometrist assesses visual function in relation to behaviour, particularly developmental disorders. They use a lot of different therapies, and vary in their approach. I don't think the 'behavioural' aspect is regulated, but the optometry aspect is.

An optician (also regulated) is usually a dispensing optician - qualified to make and fit lenses.

An opthalmologist is a medical doctor specialising in eye problems.

An orthoptist also assesses a range of visual functions, such as problems with eye movement. Orthoptists are often based in hospitals and are part of a team working with visual problems.

 

Orthoscopics is the brand name of a colour testing system developed by Ian Jordan (although it also appears to be the name used for some telescope and binocular lenses).

 

If I have understood the situation correctly, there are three different theories underlying the approaches used.

 

One is that individual differences in the distribution of cone cells in the retina sensitive to different colours lead to problems with colour vision (including colour blindness). The use of tinted lenses can sometimes correct such problems. This is the idea behind the ChromaGen system.

 

The second theory is that some non-visual cells in the retina, sensitive to blue wavelength light, have a physiological effect, particularly on biological rhythms, sleep patterns and motor function. Tinted lenses can help stabilise eye movements and motor control by adjusting the amount of blue light reaching the retina. The Orthoscopics system is based, at least in part, on this model.

 

The third theory is that certain visual stimuli can cause visual stress, which people experience as headaches, nausea, problems seeing text clearly. This is very similar to scotopic sensitivity or Meares-Irlen syndrome. Tinted lenses can sometimes correct the problem.

 

The first and second theory have some fairly solid bases in research, although since the Orthoscopics one takes into account recent research into the effects of blue light, it makes much more sense to me. I haven’t yet been able to find an explanation for the visual stress/scotopic sensitivity model.

 

What is clear is that tinted lenses can make a big difference to vision and motor function in some cases - but that it’s important to find the right colour. We found that Ian Jordan was very thorough - as well as entertaining - and managed to get our son through a lot of tests; and he hates having his vision tested. There are other optometrists using Ian’s system.

 

We’ve also seen a hospital orthoptist who was dreadful. She talked too fast and kept changing her mind about the tests and ds just zoned out. After three exhausting appointments, we managed to get to a colour that ds would wear, but I’m not at all sure it was the right one. She asked him to find a colour he ‘liked’, not one that helped him see better. Must have been close, though, because he can walk in a straight line when he wears these specs, but not when he wears his untinted ones.

 

I think what is really important is to talk to the optometrist in advance about the visual problems, about what they do and why they think it works. And how much it costs. Most high street optometrists do not do colour testing, so you’ll need to find one that does, or a behavioural optometrist or orthoptist.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

cb

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A simple guide to vision therapy / colour

 

Vision therapy is based on the premise that milestones have not been achieved and that by using exercises and prisms it is possible to retune the system. It does work in many cases - BUT - it is not suitable in many cases of ASD. It requires daily exercises and may be unpleasant. It also can prove to be very expensive as many professional appointments are necessary - bank on £1000 - £2000

 

There are three types of tinting assessments available - trial and error eg Irlen, subtractive colour eg the intuitive colorimeter, additive colour eg the Orthoscopics system

 

There is a big difference between these methods - and to give you an idea what government review considers the difference - we were given two awards for improvement of technoque - citing the previous methods as essentially obsolete.

The range (gamut) of the colorimeter is small - less than half that of the Orthoscopics instrument - and trial and error is very unlikely to get the right answer - the mathematics of when ambient lighting is changed is extremely complex.

 

In addition the Orthoscopics system can achieve many effects which would be impossible using the other systems - so, caveat emptor.

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I also wanted to add that along with actual visual differences, there is also the whole range of sensory processing integration and delays and mono processing to consider as well.

 

For example my son has delayed auditory processing. His sight and sound system are not integrated. I am sure his visual processing is also delayed. We also saw Ian Jordan and he picked up on alot of these things.

 

My son was recently seen by our local optician again. He noticed that on eye tracking tests my son was overshooting (as she said). So when she changed the direction of the visual stimulous, it took my son a good 1-2 seconds for his eyes to realise that change and catch up with the moving object again.

 

His eyes also appear to jump at times.

 

My son also tends to mono process. So whilst one sensory system is open the others tend to go off line. So my son can make eye contact without the fear or pain that some say they get. But if he looks at you there is a very strong chance that he will not hear anything you say. Or if he is looking he can lose touch sensation and you could pinch his hand and he would not feel it.

 

Our children find ways to adapt themselves to these difficulties which makes me wonder with alot of 'autistic behaviour' whether it is a chicken or the egg question. Ie. my son often does not make eye contact or even face the person that is talking to him, or that he is talking too because of sensory integration difficulties (including visual ones), which cause the social behaviours typically labelled as 'autistic'.

 

It is very hard to say exactly what our children are experiencing. I would love to be able to 'have a go' with their visual and other sensory system just to get an idea.

 

But the main thing to consider, whatever the difficulties are, is: how are those difficulties going to impact on the child in the learning environment and in social interaction. How does the child cope and adapt themselves due to their difficulties and how will that cause them barriers in the learning environment or socially.

 

I often get annoyed because people assume that my son has a bad memory. That is because he has auditory processing delays and therefore by the time he has processed the first part of an instruction he has missed the middle bit and ends up processing the last part of an instruction. So he gets less information, with bits missing and often comes to the wrong conclusion or does the wrong thing. So everyone assumes he has a poor working memory. Well yes he may have for auditory information. But his sequential visual memory is photographic for things he has seen. I agree he struggles with things he has not yet seen. But he can remember anything seen and can also use that visual sequential memory and attach the auditory information to that visual sequence. In that way he can repeat DVD dialogue verbatim.

 

Anyway, I'm now rambling .....

Edited by Sally44

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