Behavioural Optometry considers your vision in relation to your visual demands, such as reading, computers, and learning to read and write, to ensure your vision is working easily and comfortably. The way that you interpret what you see does not depend solely on how clear just your sight is.
Behavioural optometry care involves more than just measuring your eyes on the distance chart. It includes:
- Measurement of focus and eye coordination function problems which can affect visual comfort and performance when reading and writing and using computers
- Measurement of distance focus, especially if there are symptoms of difficulty looking up clearly from computers, or blurred distance vision, which could be shortsightedness (myopia) beginning to develop as a result of more time on computers and less time outside
- Assessment and treatment of lazy eye (amblyopia) and turned eye (strabismus), using spectacles and sometimes vision therapy
- Assessment and treatment of development of tracking eye movement abilities for reading fluency
- Assessment and treatment of a child’s developed skills of vision perception, or processing, to ensure these abilities are normally developed for their age, and are affecting their ability to learn to read and write, and to read at age level, and achieve to their potential
- Assessment and management of visual issues associated with health and neurological conditions, such as stroke and head injury, Parkinson’s disease, and concussion and whiplash.
Goals of Behavioural Optometry
- To prevent vision and eye problems from developing or deteriorating
- To provide treatment for vision problems that have already developed (eg: eye turn, shortsightedness etc)
- To ensure the visual abilities needed in the classroom, work place, when playing sport and using computers, are developed normally and working well.
