Does Vision Therapy Help with Reading and Learning?
Struggles with reading or learning make it difficult for a child to excel at school and may cause issues well into adulthood. In some cases, academic problems can be linked to overlooked visual issues. Vision therapy strengthens key visual skills and could improve reading and learning abilities.
What Is Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy improves the way the visual system functions. Therapy doesn't just focus on the eyes, but also considers the brain's role in vision. The brain converts electrical information from the eyes into images. If the brain doesn't function effectively or efficiently, vision problems can occur, even if you or your child have 20/20 vision or wear glasses or contact lenses.
Vision therapists use a variety of activities, exercises, games, lenses and aids to improve the connection between the mind and brain. The therapists are optometrists who have completed additional studies in vision therapy.
Who Can Benefit from Vision Therapy?
Vision therapy can improve these visual issues:
- Poor Eye Tracking. It's difficult to read well if you struggle to follow the words on a page. If you have an eye tracking problem, you may skip lines, lose your place easily, or use a finger or pen to keep your place while reading. Tracking issues may affect your attention span and ability to understand what you've read.
- Eye Teaming Issues. Your eyes must work together to provide good binocular vision. If one eye sees things a little differently than the other, the brain receives conflicting information and struggles to create a single clear image. Words may seem to move or jump on the page, or you might experience double or blurry vision, eyestrain, difficulty concentrating, slow reading speed or poor comprehension skills if you have an eye teaming issue. Reading may be more comfortable if you close one eye or tilt your head.
- Focusing Problems. Focusing problems can cause eyestrain, headaches, reading comprehension issues, or blurry vision. You may also feel tired after reading for a short time.
- Visual Memory or Processing Difficulties. You may struggle to remember how to spell words or forget what you've just read if your brain struggles to store or process information from the eyes. Reversing letters or numbers, a common problem with visual processing issues, might make it difficult to read, write, or complete math problems correctly.
Vision therapy could also be helpful if you have a learning disability, a problem that affects 20% of the U.S. population, according to the Learning Disabilities Association of America. Although vision therapy can't correct learning disabilities, it can improve visual issues that may make learning harder for people with these disabilities.
How Does Vision Therapy Improve Reading and Learning?
Vision therapy strengthens the visual skills needed for reading and learning. Therapy can help the brain improve control of eye muscles and movements for better binocular vision or create new pathways in the brain needed for good memory and perception skills.
Eye misalignment issues caused by strabismus (crossed eyes) or other visual problems result in each eye sending different signals to the brain. This understandably confuses the brain and makes it difficult to create one sharp image. Prism lenses, special lenses that change the way light bends when it enters the eyes, can be helpful if you have strabismus or an eye focusing problem. The lenses correctly align light onto the retina, ensuring that the brain receives identical information from each eye.
Your vision therapist may use computer or virtual games to help you improve your visual skills. You might pop bubbles or catch balls before they fall to improve tracking skills, or try your hand at a game that refines your focusing skills with quickly changing scenes.
A research study published in Scientific Reports in 2025 examined the effects of virtual reality video game training on a group of patients with exotropia, a type of strabismus in which one or both eyes turn outward. Participants who played the game had a significant decrease in the outward angle of the eyes after four weeks.
Are you or your child frustrated by reading or learning difficulties? Vision therapy could help you succeed by improving your visual abilities. Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the vision therapist.
Sources:
Nature: Scientific Reports: Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Display Game for Intermittent Exotropia in a Randomized Controlled Trial, 2/5/2025
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-78088-w
Learning Disabilities Association of America: The State of Learning Disabilities Today
https://ldaamerica.org/lda_today/the-state-of-learning-disabilities-today/
Optometric Vision Development & Rehabilitation Association: Signs & Symptoms of Learning-Related Vision Problems
https://www.covd.org/page/symptoms
American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus: Convergence Insufficiency, 3/2023
