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Oculomotor Dysfunction is a relatively common vision problem, occurring in both children and adults. Oculomotor Dysfunction is a visual condition sometimes referred to as 'tracking difficulties' or 'eye movement disorder'. Oculomotor dysfunction commonly results from an acquired brain injury and can have profound impacts on a person's quality of life.

Oculomotor Dysfunction occurs when there is the absence or defect of controlled, voluntary, and purposeful eye movement. As you might imagine, accurate and well established oculomotor skills are critical when reading, writing, copying information, working on art projects, finding an object in a background, playing sports and many other activities we perform in our highly visual world.

Do you get headaches when you read or use the computer? Does your child cover or close an eye while they read? Do your eyes hurt at the end of the work day? Is homework time with your child a constant battle against avoidance behaviors? Do words move on the page when you are trying to read? These are all symptoms of convergence insufficiency – a very common, and very treatable, vision condition that affects people of all ages.

Convergence insufficiency is an eye teaming deficit that affects approximately 8% of people (that is 4 times more prevalent than glaucoma or an eye turn). You do not outgrow convergence insufficiency, which is why it can have lifelong impacts on your vision. Convergence insufficiency can also be caused by a traumatic brain injury (even a concussion). Here is what you need to know about this vision condition that causes headaches, double vision and reading difficulties.

Is your child inattentive? Impulsive? Hyperactive? If you answered 'yes' to any of those, we have established that you have a child. Every kid will be a kid, and every kid has their moments (whether sugar-induced or otherwise). Well when these behaviors are present at clinically-significant levels, it may lead to the diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) – sometimes called ADD or ADHD. Unfortunately, diagnosis of AD/HD often relies heavily on subjective surveys rather than objective measures. Fortunately, researchers are using eye movements to help objectively identify AD/HD.

According to the Prevent Blindness America organization, vision problems affect 25% of school-aged children. And these vision problems can prevent a child from achieving their academic potential. Many teachers may find it hard to believe that 25% of their students have a visual barrier to success because they don't see a quarter of their students wearing glasses. The reason for this difference is that many of the vision conditions affecting students are not treated with glasses.  

With the rise of ADHD being diagnosed in the United States, researchers are working to determine a measure to objectively diagnose the condition. Currently, for a child to be diagnosed with ADHD he or she must exhibit a certain number of symptoms in two different settings. This current survey-based approach is subjective and one person's responses to the survey can change the outcome of the diagnosis. What if there was an object way to determine if someone has ADHD?

A parent called into our office with this question last week, and she is not the first to do so.  Vision therapy takes many forms. Some optometrists offer in-office vision therapy with a trained therapist, others put patients on the computer or in group sessions, and others prescribe a home-based program. At Advanced Vision Therapy Center we provide all vision therapy sessions in a one-on-one environment; relying on our therapists, rather than a computer, to train visual skills. Abundant research has been performed in the area of vision therapy and the effectiveness of these various modalities. The research continues to show that in-office vision therapy with trained professionals is the most effective treatment for convergence insufficiency (a binocular vision condition). So it should not come as a surprise that when you sit a kid in front of a computer for months, the question often arises