Saccadic dysfunction & vision therapy?

[SFisher]

My 10 yo son had his first ever eye exam at a standard eye doctor.

Doctor said he had saccadic dysfunction and suggested getting an assessment for vision therapy.

Tell me what you know about saccadic dysfunction and vision therapy.

thanks!

 

 

[EKS]

It means the the eyes have trouble looking back and forth in a controlled way, like what you need to do when you read.

Both my kids did vision therapy.  They had an hour long appointment once a week and daily homework exercises.  It took about a year (a bit less for one and a bit more for the other).

VT is a big time commitment and is quite expensive.  It is also controversial.  We found it to be helpful., and one of our kids had particularly dramatic improvement.

[SFisher]

8 hours ago, EKS said:

VT is a big time commitment and is quite expensive.  It is also controversial.  We found it to be helpful., and one of our kids had particularly dramatic improvement.

Yes, I was surprised that a regular eye Dr would recommend this.

I thought vision therapy is not supported by research and therefore not covered by insurance. Not to say it doesn’t help people, but that it’s emerging and not mainstream yet? Dunno. 

[EKS]

3 hours ago, SFisher said:

I thought vision therapy is not supported by research and therefore not covered by insurance. Not to say it doesn’t help people, but that it’s emerging and not mainstream yet?

Vision therapy has been around for quite a while, like over 100 years.  I think there is evidence that it works for some things and not so much for others.  I don't know where your son's diagnosis falls.  Some practitioners make pretty broad claims about what it will treat, and you want to stay away from those.  

VT wasn't covered by our insurance, though we had a pretty bare bones policy at the time (pre-ACA individual plan).