Vision Therapy/Photo therapy - Linda F/KarenN Help!

I know someone who did photo-therapy (or whatever it’s called) to increase field of vision. It did work in their case. The child’s peripheral vision tested normal afterwards, and he started with severely constricted peripheral vision.

In this case, the parents constructed their own light box at home and used color overlays (the ones used on spotlights for theater work) so it wouldn’t take up so much in-office time (and money). However, you have to be careful to assemble the right intensity of light, and the overlays were quite expensive — probably a project suitable only for those who are technical over-achievers.

The therapy seemed kind of kooky, but there is substantial research behind it. It’s just that no controlled studies have been done to prove it works. The family I know decided it was worth a try, and they were very satisfied with the results. They were doing regular vision therapy at the time also.

Nancy

Thank You Nancy. The Optometrist is going to provide the equipment so we can do it at home. It is going to cost us $500 plus followup care and after care etc. I am happy to hear it worked for someone.

You are right, it does sound kind of kooky, but I guess I have to figure out if it worth the $500.

Mayleng

Oops. I think it was called color therapy rather than photo-therapy.

You can probably find more information about this therapy (or at least the theory behind it) by doing a Google search on magnocellular pathways. Colored light stimulates the magnocellular pathways, which I think are involved in attending to visual stimuli at a threshold level (which peripheral vision would involve).

Sorry for the convoluted grammar!

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

This is what the info said about it:

quote:
Certain biochemical conditions in the brain need to be present before effective cortical plasticity and new functions can occur. Neurotransmitters trigger this biochemistry and allow for additional synoptic connections to initiate movement and growth in new directions. Colored light therapy can act as a powerful tool to stimulate the biochemistry of the brain through the visual system by way of the retinal-hypothalmus brain connection
unquote:

So colored light therapy and photo therapy are the same thing.

HI Mayleng,

I met someone when I started this journey who swore by this treatment. It sounded kooky to me so I didn’t pursue it.

I have since become much more open minded about treatments that seem kooky.
We worked on peripheral vision with my son through VT.

My son’s visual perception keeps astounding me. We were at his grandmother’s house over the weekend and he sat down and drew up a map of her development just for fun. This is the kid who couldn’t line up math problems or read even a simple chart 2 years ago.

Thanks Linda, I was hoping that you have tried it. What sort of exercises to they do in VT to improve the peripheral vision of your son? I am wondering why the Optometrists didn’t suggest exercises instead of the Phototherapy.

I am happy to hear your son vision has improve. Reading all your posts, you are one of the reasons I have even considered VT.

Mayleng

Here are a few exercises.

The first one I do with number and letter refridgerator magnets but you could use letter or numbers on stickies and a wall.

He has to look at an X in front of his nose. He sits about 6 to 12 inches from the X. While looking at the X I ask him to get me magnets that are positioned off to the left and right without moving his eyes from the X. I will say find the C or 2 and he will grab them and hand them to me using his peripheral vision.

Another exercises involves a chalk board or a white board. Again he looks at an X in front of his nose. He holds a marker or chalk in each hand and draws circles to the right and left simultaineously while looking straight at the X. The circles can go counter clockwise, then clockwise then one hand goes clockwise while the other goes counter. Once he can do circles you can have him do triangles or squares which are harder.

Another exercise involved a yardstick or any long stick and a small toy like an army man tied to a string dangling from the stick. He has to hold the stick on his head with the toy dangling from a string in front of him. Then we walk around the house and he has to keep his eyes straight on the toy. I will have him stop and tell me what he sees in his peripheral vision around the room while he keeps his eye on the little toy.

Thanks Linda. How often and how long did you have to do it? Is it daily and for how long before you saw any results?

I have to say that I think the there was a cumulative effect from ALL the exercises that we did. I don’t think peripheral vision was extremely weak for my son. His biggest problem was really tracking and near far focusing.

It therefore did not take too long to see a big improvement in this area. I saw results in a few weeks. HIs peripheral vision is very good now.

We have been working on near far vision for months and it just has not improved as much as I would like. I think a lot depends on the child’s area of difficulty.
I really try to do them every day. Can’t say we are always successful getting them done every day, but I try.

Thanks Linda, I will try the exercises and see how it goes. I have two weeks to decide if I want go with the photo therapy. I must say, I am curious to see if it works but for $500. ??????

Thanks again.

Mayleng, I ‘m so sorry, I didn’t see your post until just now.

We haven’t gotten into the peripheral vision issue, come to think of it I’m not sure if its an issue for my son or not. Do keep us posted!