Pre-school and school age children should have a comprehensive eye examination done every year. 80% of what children learn are processed through their visual system. If the information that is gathered is incorrect, unreliable or confusing to the child, then the result will be incorrect and slow.
There are visual related problems that can be treated with vision therapy. Vision therapy is a series of activities that are individually prescribed according to a child’s needs.
Eye coordination is tested to be sure your vision is comfortable and that your eyes work well together. This includes an analysis of the eye muscles used for movement, focusing and depth perception. If there is any problems with binocularity, your optometrist may recommend correction with prescription glasses or vision therapy.
The internal and external parts of the eyes are examined by using a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope and slitlamp biomicroscope.
The is a process of determining a spectacle or contact lens prescription. We perform various measurements in several different ways to determine the exact prescription that will work best for your eyes and individual needs.
We analyse all the hardware skills (Visual Acuity, Tonometry, Binocular vision, Contrast sensitivity, Eye movement etc) to make sure that all is in place. We then proceed to test the software skills (Eye-hand coordination, Eye-body coordination, visual reaction time, Visual anticipation). We use the Wayne Saccadic Fixator to test many of these skills.
Eye pressure is one of the several risk factors for glaucoma that we evaluate in our routine exams. It is a measure of the fluid pressure inside the eye. We use the Air Puff test, executed by a Topcon Tonometer.
Low vision is a condition caused by various eye diseases, in which the vision is 20/70 or poorer in the good eye and cannot be corrected or improved with regular spectacles. In these cases we make use of low vision aids, such as telescopes, magnifiers, digital magnifying devices etc.
The IDA defines dyslexia as a neurological based, often familial, disorder that interferes with the acquisition and processing language.
Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including reading, writing, spelling and sometimes in arithmetic.
Research aims to diagnose dyslexia in 7 types and levels of severity:
In practice we use the following test to diagnose
The Stark-Griffin Dyslexia Diagnostic test:
Through analyzing decoding (reading) and encodinag (spelling) patterns based on the neuro-anatomical model of reading, the affected anatomical area in the left hemisphere of the brain can be established hence the type and severity of dyslexia can be determined.
When the type of Dyslexia has been diagnosed, a therapy programme can be initiated to help the child strengthen their abilities.