Visual Processing Disorder Treatment
What’s Visual Processing Disorder All About and How Is it Treated?
When people think of eyesight, they think about whether one can see or not. Do they have 20/20 vision or do they need prescription glasses to rectify a problem. However, vision is much more than what the eyes can see. Our brains process the visual world around us, it is just taken in by our eyes. The visual world might include symbols, colors, pictures, distances and so on. It’s when our brains don’t function properly when taking in the visual world that we have a problem, the weaknesses are called Visual Processing Disorder or Visual Processing Issues.
Although there are ways to compensate for the weaknesses in the brain processing, visual processing disorder can trouble a person for life. Such a disorder can lead to learning disabilities, as well as behavior and social issues. For example, a child may have issues playing ball with others, reading or even sorting socks. Visual processing disorder needs treatment because it may mean that a child has issues with fluidity of movement, for example getting out of the way when something is thrown at them, or they might constantly be knocking things over. They may have problems differentiating between different letters or math symbols. In teenagers and adults, visual processing disorders can manifest themselves in a number of ways, including remembering directions, organization skills, identifying information off pictures or graphs, and finding specific information off a document.
In addition, Visual Processing Disorder can hinder the reading process as the brain treats each word as a shape. Each word has it’s own distinct shape which students recognize immediately and their brain decodes. A person with good visual processing will have instant recall of a word after 6 – 7 exposures, one with poor visual processing might need up to 50 exposures. Consequently, the individual will learn to read but at a much slower rate and only with great effort. Thus it is important to get the right treatment, and the right program to help with these visual memory issues.
One extremely successful treatment method is the Physio-Neuro Therapy program offered by Neurolinks. Neurolinks is a nationally-acclaimed method of treatment with offices in Brooklyn and Lakewood, and has been overwhelmingly successful with Visual Processing Disorder. This is because the whole program is focused on developing those connections so that the brain can process information correctly, and has increased capacity for visual learning. The Neurolinks’ program combines mental and physical exercised to strengthen the ten ways a child’s brain is processing the world around them. The treatment is based on the fact that if we are able to form a clear “mental picture” or visualize what is taking place in the text, we are easily able to conceptualize meaning. If we are able to visualize the step-by-step procedure as a math concept is being explained, we are easily able to understand and recall the procedure.
“At our Brooklyn location, we have helped treat hundreds of children with Visual Processing Disorder,” says Yehudis Klein of Neurolinks Brooklyn. In 93 percent of cases, students do not require any additional therapists once they’ve completed the program. Neurolinks is conveniently located in Brooklyn and Lakewood, with trained professionals serving the whole tri-state area.