A Survey Of Michigan Optometrists Involved With Vision Therapy.

While Vision Therapy (VT) is an option that is available to every optometrist in
practice, it's percentage of utilization is not well documented. VI's efficacy has been noted on hundreds of articles and even it's effect on the patient's quality of life has been recorded. VT can "improve visual efficiency and visual processing, allowing the individual to be more responsive to educational instruction." Optometrists interested in pursuing this specialty can find that a precise catalog of essential equipment and procedures is difficult to locate. There are literally hundreds of devices and techniques available to practitioners wishing to expand their practice via these valuable tools. The purpose of this study was to identify optometrists in associations who are involved in vision therapy and vision development; to establish the persons involved with VT who are employing classic VT and/or more global VT in addition to those dealing with Learning Disabled populations; to determine which procedures and what equipment are most frequently utilized in the area of VT and to build a directory of referrals for use at the Michigan College of Optometry. This survey analyzed four basic areas of binocular vision anomalies; visual perception diagnosis, oculomotor or binocular dysfunction diagnosis, visual perception managment and therapy and oculomotor or binocular dysfunction management and therapy.