Vision impairment can impede how you move and interact with the world around you. Vision rehabilitation focuses on increasing a person’s quality of life, independence and safety.

Once they have conducted a comprehensive evaluation, your doctor may suggest various treatments for visual impairment. These may include corrective lenses and vision therapy as potential solutions.

Eye Exercises

Eye exercises are an integral part of vision rehabilitation therapy. Their purpose is to strengthen any weak parts in the eyes that impede vision, which may help with eyestrain, blurred vision, headaches and light sensitivity issues. Eye exercises may even aid with amblyopia – when one eye doesn’t work as efficiently with its counterpart – making these exercises highly recommended by ophthalmologists for their patients.

These exercises may be effective for some vision issues, but not others. They won’t help with nearsightedness or farsightedness due to its being caused by eye structure rather than muscle weakness; similarly, presbyopia – a condition in which you need reading glasses as you age due to thickening and stiffening lens of eye – won’t benefit either as its lens thickens with age rather than muscle weakness being at fault, according to Benner.

However, other eye exercises can also be beneficial. They involve exercises that require you to look around in different directions – for instance focusing on one point at eye level then looking up towards an imaginary clock trying to focus on each of its 12 o’clock positions before shifting over to 1 and 3 o’clock spots and repeating this exercise cycle several times over. This kind of eye exercise helps maintain flexibility as well as relax surrounding muscles.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises against substituting eye exercises for treatment by an ophthalmologist. Vision therapy, on the other hand, involves multiple systems integrating together to produce accurate perceptions of our surroundings – not only from eyes but also motor, balance and auditory systems. Therefore, after experiencing trauma it’s essential that a comprehensive visual assessment be conducted along with recommendations by certified vision rehabilitation therapists.

Occupational Therapy

Loss of vision can cause a wide array of difficulties for an individual in his or her daily life, from balance and coordination issues to difficulty thinking and communicating, making daily interactions with people and objects in the environment much harder than before. Therefore, early diagnosis and intervention for visual impairment is vitally important when planning rehabilitation programs for patients with visual impairments.

Occupational therapy is a component of visual rehabilitation therapy designed to enable those living with visual impairments to maximize their life experience. An occupational therapist (OT) is a licensed healthcare professional who works with those suffering from physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities to ensure they can lead as independent lives as possible. They work with many populations, helping patients regain independence through a wide variety of strategies, techniques and equipment.

After experiencing an injury such as stroke or concussion, visual issues frequently develop. This could include acquired strabismus (eye turns), binocular dysfunction, convergence/accommodation paresis/paralysis/partial paralysis/partial paralysis of one eye/both eyes/both eyes, oculomotor dysfunction and visual-spatial impairment; leading to depression and anxiety as well as decreased self-worth. These impairments may negatively impact daily functioning leading to depression/anxiety/increased self-worth.

An occupational therapist provides more than assessment and treatment of visual impairments; they also teach adaptive skills to enable patients to participate in daily life activities more independently. By using real-life scenarios as teaching examples, trained occupational therapists can teach patients how to navigate their surroundings with visual limitations using techniques taught by an ophthalmologist or neuro-optometrist and may include devices like prism glasses.

Occupational Therapists who specialize in vision rehabilitation work with patients to customize a plan of care tailored to meet their individual needs and goals. These specialists, known as Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapists (CVRTs), possess either a master’s or doctoral degree from an accredited university and possess a comprehensive knowledge of vision impairment’s impact while taking into consideration physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and safety considerations in their approach.

Speech Therapy

Vision plays an essential part in many daily activities, from walking and driving safely, to maintaining balance, mobility and interaction with objects in our environment. That’s why integrating visual rehabilitation therapy into transdisciplinary programs yields better results.

Vision rehabilitation therapists assess clients and collaborate on rehabilitation and instruction plans with them to devise personalized rehabilitation and instruction plans. They then use assistive technology and devices like slates and styluses, Braille displays and keyboards, digital talking books and optical character readers as means of training their clients on visual, tactile, auditory and kinesthetic information to perform activities of daily living such as self-care, reading writing health management home management skills as well as orientation mobility training using real or simulated travel situations and exercises.

Many conditions can impede your vision. Although eyeglasses or contact lenses can correct some vision conditions, other issues include loss of visual acuity (poor distance or near vision), double vision and poor visual perception; other problems include loss of peripheral field of vision resulting from brain injuries that affect visual processing ability such as strabismus, binocular dysfunction convergence/accommodation paresis/paralysis as well as oculomotor deficits.

Speech therapy can assist those suffering from cognitive-communication disorders, which include difficulty organizing thoughts, sustaining attention, remembering information or planning ahead. Speech therapy specializes in teaching strategies and techniques to enhance communication between family, friends and the wider community. Feeding therapy offers support for those experiencing swallowing/chewing difficulties while voice therapy may assist those dealing with vocal cord dysfunction.

Physical Therapy

Physical rehabilitation for visual rehabilitation includes exercises that focus on muscle coordination and balance. This helps facilitate functional mobility – essential for everyday activities – as well as integrate vision into movement strategies and find ways to cope with vision loss.

As part of physical therapy, the initial step involves an evaluation to identify the most suitable treatments. You will then be instructed on exercises designed to improve balance and posture as well as prescribed therapeutic lenses, assistive devices or other equipment; you should then be provided with guidance on how best to utilize their benefits.

Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapists teach individuals who are blind or have low vision to compensate for functional limitations in order to live lives with dignity, independence and respect. In addition, these therapists instruct those living with additional disabilities that come together with visual impairment such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis or brain injuries.

Vision rehabilitation therapists work in two main settings: specialized centers designed to serve large groups, and individuals’ homes where they provide instruction in daily living skills such as cooking, clothing management, money management, home maintenance, transportation and recreational activities.

Foundations of Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Teaching with People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired provides up-to-date information on methods and techniques vision rehabilitation therapists use when instructing students with blindness or low vision who also may have other disabilities. This manual covers topics including psychosocial issues, assessment and planning, learning and teaching low vision students using braille technology as well as computer technology, access technology listening recording technology as well as handwriting daily living skills functional mobility in familiar indoor environments.

Amber hails from Hattiesburg, Mississippi where she graduated with her B.S. in Psychology from William Carey University before going on to earn her doctorate of physical therapy from the University of Mississippi Medical Center Jackson MS. Since graduating she has practiced various areas of physical therapy before settling down in Montrose with her husband in 2019. When not treating clients they enjoy playing with their dogs and traveling.