Behavioural testing to improve a child’s concentration

 At Optical Insight, we offer Behavioural Optometry, a service that goes beyond your average eye check.

What is Behavioural Optometry?

Behavioural optometrists treat infants, toddlers and young school-aged children with vision deficiencies that affect their growth, development and ability to focus and learn. Behaviour optometry picks up where standard eye checks end. Often, we find that your standard yearly eye test doesn’t pick up behaviourally influenced vision issues.

Why is Behavioural Optometry important to children?

 Vision is one of the most important senses a child utilises in the classroom. It plays a significant role in core competencies, including spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Moreover, it can impair your child’s ability to focus. Behavioural optometry doesn’t just assess the child’s vision. It also assesses habits developed by the eye due to poor vision.

Who is behavioural testing for?

 Although behavioural optometry focuses on young developing children – to ensure that visual acuity is in order – behavioural optometry can benefit anyone with a visually demanding job or lifestyle.

How does optometric behavioural testing work?

Behavioural testing utilises perceptive visual tests to identify gaps in the building blocks in a child’s optical system. These building blocks are what they use to read, write and concentrate. Once we diagnose an issue, we can work towards healing. Some solutions we may recommend are:

• Appropriate prescriptions of glasses
• Vision therapy – designed to improve visual processing development
• Tinted lenses – for certain conditions
• Advice on how to prevent or reduce the development of eye problems

Goals of behavioural optometry?

Our goals are simple. We want to do everything we can to ensure your children are happy, healthy and not struggling if they don’t have to. Behavioural optometry prevents the development of vision problems, provide treatments for any identified issues or provide a plan to ensure that the visual abilities needed in the classroom or when playing sport develop normally.

Signs that your child may have vision problems:

• Covering one eye
• Frequent eye rubbing or blinking
• Poor concentration
• Avoiding sports
• Difficulty with short term memory retention
• Seeing double
• Head tilting
• Avoiding activities that require short distances, such as reading
• One eye turning in or out
• Losing place when reading

Don’t let your child suffer from undetected visual issues all year; click here to book an appointment today!