A Vision Therapy Programme runs as a series of weekly visits to the practice and daily activities that must be practiced at home so that improvements happen. As Malcolm Gladwell from the book Outliers says, “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you are good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
The idea behind any training programme, whether it is for sport or a new role at work, is to experience and practice the skills that are difficult to a point where they can be done easily, almost automatically. An automated skill is one that you do not need to concentrate on or think about. As the saying goes “You can do it standing on your head”. This leaves the brain free to put mental effort and concentration into other areas of such as movement, understanding, comprehension or problem solving.
For adults, the easiest skill to identify with as becoming automated is often driving. Remember learning to drive? How difficult was it to think about doing everything all at once – clutch, brake, mirrors, traffic lights, other cars, pedestrians, street signs? Today you probably drove somewhere thinking of many things other than how it is that you managed to drive your car. Driving for you has become an automatic skill which you feel comfortable with now, even when the conditions become more difficult such as poor weather.
A Vision Therapy Programme assists a person with the vision or vision processing skills that they find challenging so that those vision skills can become automatic. We want the use of your vision to be automatic so that energy can go into other aspects of doing and learning.
During a Vision Therapy programme we will work in with teachers, school programmes and other therapists to ensure everyone is on the same page in assisting your child to improve their skills.
Have a look at the Video below. It gives a quick overview of what neuroscientists believe happens in the brain when you practice something and how to make your practice count.