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Behavioural Optometry Toowoomba | Behavioural Optometry Highfields

Behavioural Optometry

Behavioural Optometry is a different way of looking at vision. Rather than the number of letters a patient can see on a chart, a behavioural optometrist looks into how a patient’s visual system functions. Eyesight is seeing the car. Vision is getting across the road without being run over.

Vision has a motor component. It requires muscles to function. Muscles need to learn coordination and control. For example, when reading, two eyes need to focus on one word then move efficiently to the next word and then the next. This is called tracking.

If a patient’s visual muscles are not working efficiently, like any muscle they will tire. From a child learning to read, a mother working on a computer, a father driving the family on holiday or a grandma doing her needle work, with tired eyes the patient will not be able to complete the task. The symptom of a tired system may be blurred vision, pain as in a headache or early fatigue.

A behavioural optometrist examines the efficiency of the patient’s vision and devises strategies to improve this efficiency. With behavioural optometry, the aim is to make the task of seeing easier.

What will a Behavioural Optometrist Do?

The first stage is to determine the patient’s symptoms. The next is to look for the problems that caused them. Then the behavioural optometrist designs a solution. Finally they plan for the future so that problems do not re occur or their impact on the patient’s life are minimised. The aim of our optometrists is for our patient’s to be able to Do Their Thing!

Vision Therapy

There are many strategies available to the behavioural optometrist to help improve the efficiency of a patient’s vision. These include the use of specially designed lenses and prisms, reading rulers, overlays, patching and vision training and virtual reality therapy

TEDx Talk on the benefits of Behavioural Optometry 

More information can be obtained on the Australian College of Behavioural Optometrists Association website.

 

 

 

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