The Mind’s Eye Center employs both traditional methods and cutting-edge technology, to treat visual deficiencies such as amblyopia, strabismus, brain injuries, and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as enhancing sports vision. Our advanced optometric vision therapy goes beyond standard orthoptics, focusing on the collaboration between the eyes and the brain, and is tailored to each individual’s needs—similar to physical therapy but with a cognitive component. Our comprehensive approach includes therapeutic lenses, prisms, perceptual games, advanced 3D technology, occlusion and filters, balance boards, sensory integration technology, and specialized vision therapy software. Our virtual reality program is designed specifically by optometrists for these conditions, for a more interactive and immersive experience.
The foundation of vision therapy lies in neuroplasticity. The ability to rewire and retrain the brain and build new neural pathways is what makes optometric rehabilitation possible.
Through vision therapy exercises, we can build new neural pathways to improve visual skills and functions.
The Mind’s Eye Center offers a comprehensive range of vision therapy services, including:
Vision Therapy: Personalized programs based on your visual challenges and goals.
Visual Perceptual Testing: This assessment helps identify weaknesses in visual processing skills that can impact reading, learning, and visual-motor coordination.
Virtual Reality Testing: Engaging and interactive therapy programs designed to help improve visual skills in a fun and motivating environment.
Primitive Reflex Testing & Integration: Primitive reflexes are involuntary movements present in infancy that help with development. Incomplete integration of these reflexes can sometimes impact vision and learning, affecting eye teaming, balance, and spatial awareness.
Optometric Light Therapy: A treatment utilizing specific light wavelengths to address visual processing issues and visual discomfort.
Our binocular vision doctors are Sydney Kapp and Kristi Kading. Please schedule with them via the link below
Not everyone who needs vision correction requires glasses or contacts. Sometimes, the issue lies in how the eyes work together or how the brain interprets visual information. Vision therapy can address a variety of problems that might be impacting your daily life.
If you’re experiencing any of these problems or suspect you’re experiencing a vision issue that glasses or contacts haven’t fully addressed, our team at Specialty Eye can help. We’ll conduct a comprehensive eye exam to assess your needs and determine if vision therapy is the right course of action for you.
Conditions We Can Manage
Vision therapy can be beneficial for a wide range of people experiencing vision problems. Vision therapy programs can help people manage, and in some cases, overcome the effects of:
Symptoms to Look Out for
Some of the specific issues and symptoms that can be addressed with vision therapy include:
Focusing Difficulties
Eye Teaming Issues
Poor hand-eye coordination, affecting sports performance or daily activities
Tracking Problems
Visual Processing Problems
Comprehensive Evaluation: Schedule a 2-part evaluation with our doctors at Specialty Eye. This evaluation will assess your vision and includes a complete eye exam and other tests that help identify and pinpoint underlying visual processing issues.
Review of Personalized Treatment Plan: Based on the evaluation results, we will design a customized vision therapy program tailored to your specific needs. Treatment plans typically last 3, 6, 9, or 12 months, depending on the complexity of the visual problem.
Weekly Therapy Sessions:You'll have weekly vision therapy sessions lasting 45 minutes each, with convenient evening and virtual appointments available to accommodate your schedule and location. Your therapy program will also include engaging games and home activities tailored to your specific needs and preferences, making the experience interactive, enjoyable, and designed to reinforce the skills learned during sessions.
Progress Monitoring: Regular progress evaluations with the overseeing doctor will be scheduled every 10–12 weeks to track improvement and ensure the therapy program remains effective.
Post-Program Care: Following program completion, you’ll return for a follow-up appointment 3 months later to monitor your visual functioning and help you reach and maintain long-term success. This helps to solidify the improvements gained through vision therapy and prevent regression.
Points 1, 4 & 5 are at Specialty Eye, and the rest are completed at The Minds Eye Center
Are you interested in our vision therapy program? Check your symptoms to see if vision therapy may benefit you, or take our brain injury symptom survey.
Learn More
The COVD Website is an excellent place to learn more about vision problems, optometric vision therapy, and read research. More of our favorite resources include:
“Prior to vision therapy my son had 3-4 headaches per week and after suffering a few migraines we decided to start vision therapy. After a few months we started to see little to no headaches and have not had a migraine since!”
“So much better! Double vision is rare now and not confusing. I can tell which one is ‘real’ easily. I feel much safer driving! Very glad I came, plus the sessions were fun!”
“My daughter began vision therapy shortly after she was prescribed glasses due to esotropia. She loved coming to vision therapy.
“Prior to vision therapy my son had 3-4 headaches per week and after suffering a few migraines we decided to start vision therapy. After a few months we started to see little to no headaches and have not had a migraine since!”
“So much better! Double vision is rare now and not confusing. I can tell which one is ‘real’ easily. I feel much safer driving! Very glad I came, plus the sessions were fun!”
“My daughter began vision therapy shortly after she was prescribed glasses due to esotropia. She loved coming to vision therapy. Valen was amazing at making all her exercises seem like fun. She had a blast. A made great improvement on being able to track, focus, and turn her eye outward. Valen was so knowledgeable and gave us work that we could easily do anywhere to continue to strengthen her eye. I would highly recommend the Mind’s Eye Center to anyone to strengthen their eyes and work for any vision needs! We are so grateful for their work and collaboration!”
Olivia, age 14, excels in sports, partakes actively in club activities, and is a social butterfly among her peers. In contrast to her accomplished co-curricular resume, her academic results were somewhat lackluster.
“She had been experiencing double vision, words blurring when reading, and eye pain under the glare of light,” her mother shared. “Her symptoms included being bothered by light, covering an eye while reading, and losing her place in a sentence.” Elaine also struggled with reading comprehension and she tired easily after near task activities.
Although her mother initially suspected these symptoms of learning difficulties as dyslexia, Olivia had convergence and accommodation insufficiency. She started vision therapy and made significant improvements in her studies. Olivia is thrilled to also report that following vision therapy, she is no longer bothered by light and she finds it much easier to read.
When John put on his first pair of glasses at age 6, his mother remembers him saying, “Wow! Things aren’t smeary.” But, at age 8, he was still having reading issues. His mother recalls that following his annual eye appointment, the doctor referred John for vision therapy consultation for amblyopia. “Gratefully, we entered the vision therapy program where every week over the course of a year John enjoyed what he called “playing eye games with fun eye therapists.” John now has strong eye teaming and, with the help of his glasses, he has regained his binocularity and 3D vision.
Today, John is a happy 10-year-old, reading at grade level and doing math at a higher grade level. He no longer struggles to read or learn. He even plays soccer on two teams— one recreation team and one advanced team.
Maria, age 46, was in a car accident in July, 2015. “Following the accident, I did everything suggested as a traumatic brain injury patient and had balance therapy for extreme vertigo,” She said. “But I still felt off.”
As a CPA, Bianca worked long hours at the computer. Working on Excel spreadsheets and reading. “I suffered headaches and fatigue. I was very moody, which isn’t my normal personality.” Her physical therapist recommended vision therapy. “My Optometrist understood and recognized my problems right away.” Maria noticed improvements every week. “Little by little, it all started coming back to me,” she said. “I realized one day I had read for 30 minutes and then another day for 45 minutes.” As an avid tennis player, Maria was heartbroken that she could not play following the accident. “I couldn’t even think about playing tennis, hiking or skiing.”
But, thanks to vision therapy, Maria has improved so much and has found herself on the tennis courts again. “I am thrilled that we are going skiing this year. I am so grateful to my doctor and vision therapist for helping me get my life back. And, my husband is happy that I’m a lot less moody!”
Becky shared that her son, Aidan, “avoided learning how to ride a bike and had no interest in organized sports.” He was struggling in third grade, distracted at school, and frustrated with homework.
“We first heard about vision therapy from our Optometrist , but it took us about a year to decide it was the right decision for Aidan,” she said. “When the doctor was describing vision therapy to me, I realized Aidan struggled in everything she mentioned. We enrolled him in vision therapy and started noticing changes in him in only six weeks.” After completing his vision therapy program, Becky said “He is making straight A’s every week. He is playing flag football, scoring touchdowns even, and recently at a Cub Scouts meeting volunteered to be the first one to climb a rock wall.” Additionally, he is focused at school, using his time productively, and he likes to read. “One day he asked to learn to ride a bike and by afternoon he was doing it!” Now he would like to ski.
“Vision therapy unlocked so many things for him. I feel so lucky and I am so proud of him. He is now the happiest, most confident kid.”
David, age 59, fell off a ladder and was knocked unconscious. He was diagnosed with a Grade 3 (severe) concussion. “Cranial nerve palsy led to 11 months of blurry and double vision,” David said. David received help from a vestibular rehabilitation specialist, who recommended vision therapy. “Initially, if I held my head straight, everything was blurry, but if I tilted my chin down and used my upward gaze, I could see clearly. At first, I had to talk to people and even back my car out of the driveway with my chin down looking up,” he laughed. David struggled with fatigue and had extreme sensitivity to light for many months. “I felt like I was in a dense fog all the time.”
Vision therapy has helped David to recover. “I kept seeing improvement, slowly but surely. I feel great now and happy to be back doing things I love like playing and coaching basketball.”
All names have been changed to protect the privacy of our patients
What Is Optometric Vision Therapy (VT)?
What Is VT Like At Mind’s Eye Center?
What Tools Are Used In Optometric Vision Therapy?
Does Mind’s Eye Center Use Virtual Reality?
What Are The Goals Of Optometric Vision Therapy?
Is Vision Therapy Different Than Eye Exercises?
A publication by the American Optometric Association on Vision as a Collaboration Between Eyes and Brain, co-authored by Dr. Press, concluded: “Information from neuroimaging and insights from cognitive neuroscience demand a significant reformulation of the understanding of vision. Vision occurs neither in the eyes nor in the brain but emerges from the collaboration of the eyes and the rest of the brain. Vision is a pervasive aspect of our existence which permeates all of our activities. Vision develops and, due to neural plasticity, can be enhanced.”
This is why it is so important to understand that optometric vision therapy is different from self-help “eye exercises.” Optometric vision therapy is like physical therapy for the eyes, but with a cognitive or thinking component. Because of the complexity of the visual system, we design individually prescribed therapy plans to address each person’s visual needs.
What Is Advanced Vision Therapy?
Advanced vision therapy is more than what many ophthalmologists would define as orthoptics. The treatments used during optometric vision therapy go beyond the limited definition and scope of orthoptics to treat disorders of the visual system, indicative of vision as a collaboration between the eyes and the brain.
What Types Of Visual Problems Are Treated?
The Mind’s Eye Center provides advanced vision therapy based on the principles of neuroscience. We provide treatment for developmental visual problems, vision-related learning problems, visual-motor deficiencies, and perceptual-cognitive deficiencies, and provide visual rehabilitation after acquired brain injury, and visual enhancement training for sport.
Optometric vision therapy is the link that connects the brain to clear eyesight. Eyesight that is 20/20 is not always enough to function well in the activities of daily living, hobbies, school, work, or sports. Sight is not the same as vision. “Eyesight” is a physical process of focusing light within our eyes, whereas “vision” involves our eye-brain ability to derive meaning and make appropriate action based on what is seen. Vision is involved in learning, memory, thinking, executive functions, and attention.
Vision therapy sessions include procedures designed to enhance the brain’s ability to control:
Why Wasn’t Vision Therapy Recommended by the Pediatrician or Ophthalmologist?
It is important to understand why there can be disagreement when comparing the recommendations of optometrists specially trained in vision therapy and other eye doctors or pediatricians. Pediatricians screen for eye problems—and many ophthalmologists and optometrists only examine eye health and eyesight. If they determine that there are no abnormalities with the eye, that’s the end of the discussion. The eyes are fine, therefore there’s no need for vision therapy. This is a shortsighted approach when you consider that vision occurs beyond the eyes.
Simply put, the need for brain-based (neurolearning) vision therapy for patients with conditions such as autism spectrum, ADHD, reading problems, or brain injury has nothing to do with whether eyesight is 20/20 or the eyes are healthy.
This is why it is so important to understand that optometric vision therapy is different from self-help “eye exercises.” Optometric vision therapy is like physical therapy for the eyes, but with a cognitive or thinking component. Because of the complexity of the visual system, we design individually prescribed therapy plans to address each person’s visual needs.
What Is the Vision Therapy Program Like?
At The Mind’s Eye Center, Vision Therapy is individually designed for each patient’s needs. The doctor-therapist team design the program based on each patient’s diagnoses, symptoms, visual deficiencies, and their effect on optimal work, school, sport, or hobby performance with each patient’s individual needs and goals in mind.
A therapy program includes weekly or twice weekly office visits working one-on-one with a highly trained Optometric Vision Therapist. The doctor prescribes the therapy and the Dr.-therapist team plans visual activities that create brain changes. The vision therapist is highly trained to coach each patient to achieve high-level learning. Research shows this type of program to be the most successful in addressing patient symptoms and goals and changing brain-eye connections. Visual activities may be prescribed to practice at home for additional reinforcement and learning.
Regular progress evaluations are scheduled with the doctor to monitor each patient’s progress, goals, and symptoms, and to best individualize the activities. After a patient completes their vision therapy program, the patient is monitored with post-therapy evaluations with one of the specialty doctors.
Why Is Our Vision Therapy Successful?
The Mind’s Eye Center provides advanced evidence-based vision therapy based on the principles of neuroscience. The doctors are residency trained in this specialty and continually pursue post-doctorate continuing education at the highest level in their specialty. The doctors and the optometric vision therapists are continually involved with training, education, teaching, and collaboration in areas of visual development, learning, vision and neuroscience, attention and memory, acquired and traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
There is no procedure or instrument that makes a patient better – it is what the patient learns from the procedure. The doctor-therapist team creates opportunities for learning during the visual activities. The patient must transfer this learning to their daily lives. When they do, we see reduced symptoms and improved quality of life. We accomplish this by using 5 keys (Socratic Method, Learning Theory, Specific Praise, Motivation, and Loading), which have been scientifically proven to be very effective methods of neurolearning and treatment in vision therapy.
Our doctors and optometric vision therapists collaborate with other professionals for the best care and co-management of our patients.
Our doctors have a high commitment to teaching and providing continuing education for eye care physicians, medical physicians, neurologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language therapists. Our doctors also regularly volunteer their time and expertise in the community as well as worldwide. Some of these avenues are Optometric Physicians of Washington, Children’s Task Force, InfantSEE Committee, volunteering and educating school nurses, teachers, and education professionals, teaching at Evergreen Health parent-baby classes, and providing eye health and vision care to the underserved in our community and world.
Does Optometric Vision Therapy Really Work?
Yes!
How do we know?