Vision Assessments
Behavioural Optometric Assessments
We offer two types of behavioural optometric assessment. Choice of assessment is fundamentally a cost/budget issue. The full assessment will always yield a more comprehensive understanding of the role of vision in any classroom difficulties, but we recognise that not everyone has the necessary budget and so offer the assessment in two parts.
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Full behavioural optometric assessment
(Duration approximately two hours)
The Full Behavioural Optometric Assessment will yield maximum understanding and a more holistic picture of the role that vision is playing in general development and learning.
The assessment is based on a Behavioural or Developmental understanding of vision and its interaction with the other sensory-motor systems of the body.
Having established that the eyes are healthy and there is no significant refractive error, the testing goes much further. It investigates the adequacy of functional visual skills for the modern learning environment.
Initially it explores the more mechanical aspects of visual attention such as 'homing in' with the focusing mechanisms, aligning the eyes accurately in space and the efficiency with which the two eyes work as a team.
Then, using both quantitative and qualitative measures, it looks at how effectively the visual system operates in performance situations where a task requires a significant visual input if it is to be efficiently executed. Obvious examples are reading, computer work, copy work and ball sports.
Other tasks, such as writing and sporting activities of all kinds, also necessitate reliable co-operation between the visual system and body movement systems, with effective feedback so that the eyes may guide body action through space. This must be accomplished with the maximum efficiency and accuracy, but minimum effort, so that high level energy is not 'poached' from primary task requirements, such as information absorption and processing.
As you can imagine, the eyes are only a small part of a whole system that is required to absorb, process, match, identify, combine, recall and manipulate information received through the eyes.
The Full Behavioural Optometric Assessment investigates the visual system 'as a whole' yielding a more complete analysis of the role of vision in classroom and learning difficulties.
A mixture of standardised tests, non-standardised tests and clinical observations are used to explore the development of visual skills essential to good letter formation and mature drawing, good spelling, fluent reading, efficient copy work, good visual memory, good mental maths skills, consistent concentration, and good anticipation of ball, body and player position in sport.
Basic behavioural optometric assessment
(Duration approximately 45 minutes)
This is essentially the first half of the Full Behavioural Optometric Assessment. The Basic Behavioural Optometric Assessment explores only the more mechanical aspects of visual attention, such as, 'homing in' with the focusing mechanisms, aligning the eyes accurately in space and the efficiency with which the two eyes work as a team. Information acquired is limited to the quality of information received in through the visual system.
However, because accurate input is required if information is to be adequately processed, this may be valuable if difficulties are primarily of a visual perceptual nature, such as in Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome.
Some more obvious symptoms of inadequate functional control over the visual system are difficulties keeping place on reading, difficulties absorbing content, more difficulty with smaller prints and a tendency to omit or misread shorter more familiar words. Spelling difficulties and poor absorption of print may also be explained.