FAQ :: Ideal Vision Institute

How common are learning-related vision problems?
Why should I add Vision Therapy to my practice?

Vision problems that interfere with learning include things like poor teamwork, difficulty focusing, inaccurate tracking, and visual processing problems that can interfere with attention to detail, memory, and sequencing. These problems have nothing to do with 20/20 eyesight, and are not associated with eye diseases. They occur in approximately 15 to 25% of the overall school-aged population, depending on which study you cite going back to mid 1980s. (The highest incidence I've found reported is in a long-term study of an urban school from 1993 to 1999. They found 53% of the children failed a functional vision evaluation, the children that failed had lower standardized test scores, and the children with the worst visual findings had the most improved test scores after treatment with glasses and vision therapy.)

Prevalence is higher in pediatric populations identified with learning or behavior problems: a majority of learning-disabled children (those in the resource room) have vision problems that can interfere with learning, and there's an even higher prevalence in the juvenile delinquent population.

1. People need help.

As many as 80 million Americans have a binocular vision problem that can only be resolved through vision therapy. Not just children, but many adults avoid reading, learning, or have serious limitations. Fewer than 5,000 O.D.s offer those services—an enormous unserved body of children and adult patients you could be serving

2. It's good for your practice.

Once established, well-run vision therapy practices produce net profits between 45 and 55 percent margins. Most costs are related to training and salaries for the therapists who deliver the therapy under the doctor’s supervision. Many training programs now exist for doctors and therapists, including the Ideal Vision Institute’s Quick Start Vision Therapy course

3. You'll change lives.

Vision Therapy changes lives. Every patient who completes therapy will have an entirely new future available to them. Children will excel at school after years of frustration and failure. Adults will suddenly be able to expand their career opportunities, return to college or take training to improve their financial and personal future. The issue is getting started. What most optometry schools offer in vision therapy training is pretty hit and miss, often students never get to follow a case through completion, so they never see what a difference VT actually makes.