Is Optometric Vision Therapy a Valid Treatment for Learning Disabilities

If you have interest in researching the validity of Optometric Vision  Therapy the opening paragraph and conclusion from a research paper I wrote on this topic are pasted below.  A Link to the full paper and references can be found by clicking this link.  .   Power Point Presentation can be found here. 

Optometric Vision Therapy, also referred to as Vision Therapy, or Developmental Optometry, is based on the theory that misaligned or untrained vision can prevent written language from transmitting correctly and seamlessly to the brain for processing and thus causing learning disabilities.  Vision therapists believe that many students and adults who struggle with learning and even those who are identified under IDEA as being eligible for special education as  learning disabled or attention deficit have been misdiagnosed and are actually suffering from misaligned vision or convergence insufficiency (Press, 2002) (COVD, 2010). The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Ophthalmology finds the research touted by Developmental Optometrist to be flawed and emphasizes that learning disabilities are complex neurobiological deficits requiring  multidisciplinary and phonological remediation techniques. (Pediatrics, 2009)  This paper will explore the controversy over Vision therapy and make recommendations for educators and parents to consider. 

Parents, Doctors and Educators should proceed very cautiously if considering vision therapy.   Educators and Doctors are professionally required to rely on research based interventions and therefore should not make recommendations for vision therapy at this time.   Developmental Optometrists would be wise to conduct the peer reviewed research that may validate their own successful findings.  If vision therapy is indeed a successful remediation for learning disabilities, then Developmental Optometrists are cheating children and adults out of a successful future by not insisting on reliable data to validate their own claims.  Parents should be wary of the “guru factor” associated with Vision Therapy.   This term describes the alternative therapies that maintain a dedicated following without valid and reliable data to support efficacy of the therapy.   For example,   when the alternative therapy is not successful it is the fault of the client or of the clients  parents – not of the therapy itself.   And conversely, when the therapy succeeds, all other simultaneously administered remedies are ignored as contributing to success but the alternate therapy stands alone as the single successful factor.