{"id":19796,"date":"2021-10-26T10:36:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T10:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/?page_id=19796"},"modified":"2021-10-26T10:36:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T10:36:23","slug":"how-does-vision-therapy-help-children-with-autism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-therapy-for-special-needs\/autism-vision\/how-does-vision-therapy-help-children-with-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Vision Therapy Help Children with Autism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>An estimated 1 in 54 children have Autism (ASD), with many also suffering from undetected vision problems.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Children with autism (ASD) suffer disproportionately with vision problems, but unfortunately, often go undiagnosed for years.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Signs of vision problems<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Many behaviors frequently associated with ASD are actually a result of an undiagnosed vision problem.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Signs of a vision problem can include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/vision-therapy-for-lazy-eye\/treating-amblyopia-a-new-way\/lazy-eyes-are-not-lazy\/\">Amblyopia\/lazy eye<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Light sensitivity<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/a-guide-to-eye-turns\/strabismus-crossed-eyes\/strabismus-faqs\/\">Eye misalignment (eye turns)<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Fleeting views or rolling eyes<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Looking through\/beyond objects<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Inaccurately tracking moving objects<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Difficulty maintaining eye contact with people<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Visual stimming (flapping fingers in front of eyes)<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Looking at objects from the side of the eyes<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Extreme fear or absence of fear of heights<\/li>\n<li>Lack of reciprocal play<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>If your autistic child shows any of these signs above,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\"> contact an eye doctor near you.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>SEE RELATED: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-therapy-for-special-needs\/autism-vision\/2021-update-autism-asd-and-vision\/\">2021 Update: Autism (ASD) and Vision<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"practice-search-widget\">\n\t\t<h3>Find an eye doctor for children near you<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t<form class=\"practice-search-form practice-search-form-widget\" action=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/results\/\" method=\"get\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page\" class=\"practice-search-page\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_latitude\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_longitude\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" class=\"practice-search-address\" placeholder=\"City, Surburb or Address\" value=\"\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"practice-search-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M10.6796 0.130005C9.15708 0.130059 7.66615 0.5646 6.38198 1.38258C5.09781 2.20057 4.07373 3.36803 3.43004 4.74783C2.78634 6.12763 2.54976 7.66246 2.74808 9.17205C2.9464 10.6816 3.57139 12.1033 4.54964 13.27L0.729639 17.08C0.6364 17.1732 0.562439 17.2839 0.511979 17.4058C0.461519 17.5276 0.435547 17.6581 0.435547 17.79C0.435547 17.9219 0.461519 18.0524 0.511979 18.1743C0.562439 18.2961 0.6364 18.4068 0.729639 18.5C0.917942 18.6883 1.17334 18.7941 1.43964 18.7941C1.5715 18.7941 1.70207 18.7681 1.82389 18.7177C1.94571 18.6672 2.0564 18.5932 2.14964 18.5L5.99964 14.62C7.35406 15.6038 8.98566 16.1324 10.6596 16.13C12.7814 16.13 14.8162 15.2871 16.3165 13.7869C17.8168 12.2866 18.6596 10.2517 18.6596 8.13C18.6596 6.00827 17.8168 3.97344 16.3165 2.47315C14.8162 0.97286 12.7814 0.130005 10.6596 0.130005H10.6796ZM10.6796 14.13C9.49295 14.13 8.33291 13.7781 7.34622 13.1188C6.35952 12.4595 5.59049 11.5225 5.13636 10.4261C4.68224 9.32975 4.56342 8.12335 4.79493 6.95946C5.02644 5.79558 5.59788 4.72648 6.437 3.88736C7.27611 3.04825 8.34521 2.4768 9.5091 2.24529C10.673 2.01378 11.8794 2.1326 12.9757 2.58673C14.0721 3.04085 15.0092 3.80989 15.6685 4.79658C16.3277 5.78328 16.6796 6.94332 16.6796 8.13C16.6796 9.7213 16.0475 11.2474 14.9223 12.3726C13.7971 13.4979 12.2709 14.13 10.6796 14.13Z\" fill=\"#fff\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"practice-search-use-my-location\">\n\t\t\tSearch near me\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\n\t<\/form>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<h2><b>How can vision therapy help?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/guide-to-vision-therapy\/\">Vision therapy<\/a> is a highly effective treatment program aimed at strengthening the connections between the eyes and the brain and improving the visual skills.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Each program is tailored to the needs of the individual and includes specific eye exercises, as well as the use of lenses, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/neuro-optometry\/what-are-prism-lenses\/how-are-prisms-used-in-vision-therapy\/\">prisms<\/a> and other therapeutic tools and techniques to achieve optimal results.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-therapy-for-special-needs\/autism-vision\/vision-therapy-for-autism-success-stories\/\">Vision therapy can help a child with ASD<\/a> to improve their visual processing skills to help them better understand their surroundings and, as a result, feel more safe and secure in their environment. This in turn, will also reduce or even eliminate associated behaviors such as fears and anxiety, and may even help to improve eye contact and verbal skills.<\/p>\n<p>Many vision therapy programs for children with ASD aim to strengthen:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Central vision<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Peripheral stability<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Efficient eye coordination<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Visuospatial organization<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Visual information processing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What are yoked prism lenses?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Many vision problems result in visuospatial misjudgments, or the way objects and people move in space. This can lead to anxiety and distress in a child with ASD and lead to certain behavioral reactions, such as poor eye contact or looking beyond an object.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, many vision therapy programs for children with ASD include the use of yoked prism lenses. These lenses \u2018trick\u2019 the eyes by subtly moving objects and images to the location in which the brain thinks the image should appear.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/neuro-optometry\/what-are-prism-lenses\/\">Prism lenses<\/a> are often used to eliminate double vision and improve vision clarity, but can also be effective in improving posture, balance and attention\u2014 thus helping a child with ASD feel more secure in their environment.<\/p>\n<p>Vision therapy is an effective program that can help children with ASD see more clearly and comfortably, as well as overcome many associated behaviors rooted in an undetected vision problem.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\">Contact an eye doctor near you<\/a> if you think your child can benefit from vision therapy.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>LEARN MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-therapy-for-special-needs\/\">Vision for Special Needs<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Vision therapy can help a child with ASD to improve their visual processing skills to help them better understand their surroundings and, as a result, feel more safe and secure in their environment.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An estimated 1 in 54 children have Autism (ASD), with many also suffering from undetected vision problems. Children with autism (ASD) suffer disproportionately with vision<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1206,"featured_media":19797,"parent":269,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19796","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Does Vision Therapy Help Children with Autism? - Optometrists.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/vision-therapy-for-special-needs\/autism-vision\/how-does-vision-therapy-help-children-with-autism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Does Vision Therapy Help Children with Autism? - Optometrists.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An estimated 1 in 54 children have Autism (ASD), with many also suffering from undetected vision problems. 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