Entry By: Kim Wiggins, OTR/L, HWT, CP-BC
As a school based occupational therapist, I have recently found that I am getting more referrals for children that have visual issues. It turns out that these children were receiving vision therapy, but due to the high costs of vision therapy it is no longer an option for the family. In this case, many people believe that OTs can work on similar skills.
I particularly appreciate this quote from http://www.visionandlearning.org/whatisvt08.html: “There are crossovers between occupational therapy and vision therapy, particularly in the area of visual perception, eye-hand coordination and visual motor integration, though occupational therapists do not receive near the depth of training in vision nor are they trained in the use of lenses, prism and filters. Vision is a sensory-motor set of systems, so many times if a patient has difficulty with sensory integration, it is co-managed with occupational therapists.”
As we “co-manage” visual deficits, there are a variety of resources that can help these children with visual deficits.
This is one of my favorite websites: www.visualscreening.com from VERA, Visual Technology Applications Inc. On this site, you will find a FREE visual screening tool that assesses: visual acuity, suppression, stereopsis, and fixation disparity. It will also provide you with a FREE screening report and letters that can be sent to the parent and doctor requesting an eye exam. This site also provides you with great information that can be given to parents and teachers, containing “One-on-One Activities for Visual Skills Enhancement.”
There are a variety of games that can be played at home, in the classroom, or in OT sessions to address visual perception issues. Here is a small list of some of my favorites:
PixMix by MindWare can be found on Amazon.com for less than $20. This game addresses Figure Ground skills. The skills needed are almost identical to the figure ground section on the Developmental Test of Visual Perception 2nd Edition (DTVP-2).
Pictureka by Parker Brothers can be found on amazon.com or local toy stores for less than $20 to address figure ground skills.
Space Faces by Education Insights can be found on amazon.com for less than $25. This game addresses visual discrimination, figure ground, and concentration skills. Animal Soup by Briarpatch is a similar game that can be used for younger children, which can be found for less than $10 in some stores.
During my workshop: Hands-On Strategies and RTI Tools for Classroom Handwriting Skills, Multi-Sensory Techniques for all Children (http://cart.summit-education.com/cart/jsp/course.jsp?courseId=CRANKW.1&categoryId=10001), an entire section of the presentation is dedicated to visual skills and resources that can be used.
My son also went thru “vision therapy”; as an OT I was amazed at the overlap. So much of what they were doing was actually “OT” practice; I actually had more training than the girl working with him on neuroanatomy, brain function, sensory and motor development, etc. and found myself explaining things to her. We too “quit” due to financial aspects. Could OT’s expand our scope of practice and develop specialized training, much like CHT’s get certified, so that OT could provide vision therapy and promote the value to insurance companies, to get this valuable and necessary service covered by insurance?
I am currently refocusing my career goals after working for many years with adults, especially in the area of gerontology. My goal is to work in the healthcare field as a marketer and trainer.
I have often referred adult stroke and traumatic brain injured patients to a local optometrist who specializes in vision therapy.
He would like me to work with him as he is encountering problems with billing insurance with what are referred to as OT billing codes as well as market his services in the community to adult clients.
I have decided to shadow one of his vision therapists to gain knowledge of how I might ‘fit’ into this company’s vision.
This OD states that schools in our area area addressing visual issues thru OT services but then OT’s are not vision therapists.
this gentleman provides a wonderful service to our community and I would like to be a part of his vision. How do I go about this?
Any thoughts?
It is very nice to see “some meat on the bones” in this article. Most vision therapy programs in my experience do little or nothing for saccades training, and have little connection to the actual reading process.
Paul,
We adopted my son a year ago and he received vision therapy for a 6 month period. I find this topic very interesting and I wish I could do more as an OT. Jon does exhibit significant saccadic movements, which significantly impacts his reading. The Vantage Reading program looks very interesting. I am also learning about the Davis Dyslexia program. I realize they are both very different things, but they seem to go hand-in-hand and they both impact handwriting as well!
Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain the terminlogy towards the starters!