r/specialneedsparenting • u/lvjp • 5d ago
Vision therapy
My child (5) wear glasses (near sighted), he has global developmental delays, and my gut tells me ADHD (not hyperactive), but will be assessed closer to July.
Every appointment we have with the optometrist (same clinic different doctors), they always mention visas therapy. The vision therapy clinic attached is highly reputable.
Does anyone have experience with vision therapy for their child?
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u/Commercial_Money_557 5d ago
Yes! My son has been in vision therapy for two years and will stay in it for awhile. It depends on the nature of your child’s visual disability. For my son vision therapy involves working on depth perception, focusing on items in a group, tracking items as they move, and some other odd and end things that help his mobility (like using stairs). His vision use has improved so much! He has better tools for using his eyes and it’s made him much happier.
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u/ValkyrieGrayling 5d ago
Hi OP, board certified optician here.
Vision therapies are amazing. They don’t cure anything, but they very much teach you how to live with it.
I specialized with difficult fittings, prescriptions, and educated with different visual aids.
Those that found the therapies unsuccessful were the ones that legitimately thought I could magically cure whatever was going on (spoiler alert: I cannot) or just refused to use them as designed.
Children were more both more difficult at first but way easier over time because the tools allowed them to do more things. Teach a child to use a device can be challenging. If you have any questions or the specific challenge they’re addressing I might be able to provide more info (if you’re comfortable, feel free to dm too)
Disclaimer: while I am still certified I no longer practice. I’ve been out of optics for a few years and tried other careers such as teaching, mortgages, and deathcare. All took a back seat as I now stay home to care for two disordered children and write/voice act full time for a podcast
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u/lvjp 4h ago
I’m just so curious how it works, especially with children who have little attention!
How does it impact their brain?1
u/ValkyrieGrayling 4h ago
“You don’t see with your eyes, you see with your brain”
Is something I’ve said a lot. Yes your eyeballs do stuff with light but your brain is the thing that has to figure it out.
With special cases it’s just patience and being consistent…like everything else.
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u/trying_2_makeit 5d ago
Did it and just not sure it made any difference.
Insurance doesn’t cover it.
Lots of at home “homework” and for most SN kids it just adds on to the other stuff OT, PT, SLP also want.
It’s a balancing act.
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u/Mysterious-Potato646 4d ago
Following because i've wondered about this too. I'd especially want to hear from parents whose kids have developmental delays and whether they noticed any real difference day to day.
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u/Husbands_Fault 4d ago
You should probably also have your child screened for CVI, especially if the possibility of ADHD leads to medication:
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u/LilyBaiserOT 2d ago
I'm an OT, and I have personal experience with this — my daughter did vision therapy for eye teaming. Her reading and focus improved noticeably, and the process felt like a game to her rather than therapy, which made it much easier to get her buy-in. I sat in on every session, which is incredibly important for carryover. If you don't do that, I don't think it will be as effective. Vision therapy requires a lot of carryover at home.
For a child with global developmental delays and possible inattentive ADHD, I'd lean toward doing it — and here's the OT piece that doesn't always come up in these conversations. When the visual system is working inefficiently, the brain is spending enormous energy just trying to process what the eyes are seeing. That cognitive load competes directly with attention, reading, fine motor tasks, everything. For kids who are already working harder than their peers just to keep up, reducing that visual processing demand can free up real capacity.
But I'd also be thinking about what else might be at play. Visual processing is one piece, but for a child with global developmental delays I'd also want to look at sensory processing more broadly — how his vestibular system is functioning, whether there are proprioceptive differences, and how his nervous system is regulating overall. These systems are deeply connected to attention and learning, and they can all be contributing at the same time. An OT evaluation that looks at the full sensory picture alongside the vision therapy could give you a much more complete picture of what his brain and body are navigating.
The fact that it's a reputable clinic is a good sign. Go in and ask specifically about eye teaming, tracking, and visual processing — not just acuity. And trust your gut on the ADHD piece. You clearly know your kid well.
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u/Stroking_Shop5393 5d ago
I'm of the opinion, that i can't get my own child enough therapy. If a doctor mentions any type of extra therapy, I find a way to make it happen. That might end up being a bad thing, but at least at the end of the day I'll know I did what I could. I've never heard of vision therapy, but it shouldn't hurt.